BackAlleyBlues

Little Freddie's real name is Fread E. Martin and he was born in McComb, Mississippi, July 19, 1940 down the road from Bo Diddley place. His father, Jessie James Martin, was a blues guitarist that worked the weekend southern circuit in the Delta. His father would bring him out on the town when he was out there playin. "I would go out there and sit around on the outside around the juke joints and listenin." He'd be playin and drinkin and everyone was havin' fun. Freddie eventually taught himself how to play guitar and develop his country-style blues or as he calls it "Gut Bucket Blues".

At the age of 17, Freddie moved from the farm to New Orleans to stay with his sister. There he met such upcoming stars as Buddy Guy and Slim Harpo. However, adapting to life in the big city wasn't easy as Freddie explains. "I got lost all the time," he said. "All the houses looked the same. I had to get the police to take me home or else they'd arrest me. Finally one of the policemen told me to look at the street sign and the number on the houses. It got easy to get around after that."

Freddie King