Little Freddie King – I Use To Be Down | Album Review

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11 songs – 39 minutes

85-year-old Little Freddie King is one of the last great country blues players. Born in McComb, Mississippi in 1940, Fread E. Martin (as he was then) grew up playing alongside his blues guitar-picking father before riding the rails to New Orleans in his early teens where he crossed paths with itinerant South Louisiana blues man such as Poka- Dot Slim and Boogie Bill Webb whose unique country-cum-urban styles would influence his own sound. His biography reads a fictional story, right down to being shot by his domineering wife. His music, however, is as deep, powerful and real as the Mississippi River – raw, ragged and irresistible.

I Use To Be Down is a fabulous collection of 10 original songs and one cover, with stellar production by “Wacko” Wade Wright and recording by Misha Kachkachishvil at Esplanade Studios, New Orleans. The sole cover is John Lee Hooker’s “Goin’ Upstairs”, which was recorded live at BJ’s Lounge in New Orleans by Ian Wood.

King plays both electric and acoustic guitars and sings in a deep, gravelly voice that still carries the echoes of his Mississippi youth. His band provides immaculate, subtle support. Wright, who plays drums in addition to his production duties, and Paul Defiglia on bass (other than Going Upstairs” which features Robert Snow) lay down a series of beguiling grooves while Stephen Daly (second guitar and slide), Robert Louis DiTullio (harmonica) and Elan Mehier (piano) let instruments float around the vocal melodies.

The album kicks off with the instrumental “Bywater Crawl”, a one-chord Lightnin’ Hopkins-esque boogie in which the other instruments slowly join King’s hypnotic guitar to create something driving, threatening and yet vital and alive. Mehier’s pounded, simple piano is particularly effective. “Pocket Full Of Money” reeks of the Louisiana swamps, with excellent slide guitar from Daly. “Going Up The Mountain” has echoes of Pee Wee Crayton’s “Afters Hours” riff, while “Bad News” is pure Delta Blues with a simply outstanding guitar solo.

Each track breathes and grows and evolves in real time, as if we are listening to a band expertly improvising on stage. Nothing is hurried or pushed; everything is exactly in place. The guitars interplay and weave around each other. It would be very easy in this situation for the musicians to over-play but the restraint they display consistently leaves the listener wanting more.

The title track highlights DiTullio’s harmonica over a persistent shuffle, while “Coming Home To Jesus” sees King singing various classic gospel lines over a strummed guitar pattern.

King’s singing and guitar playing are both in rude health. His vocals on “Standing At Your Door” are especially impressive, while his guitar fills on “Mean Little Woman” demand attention.

It would be too easy to say I Use To Be Down is a very admirable album by an octogenarian who has lived a hard yet storied life. It also would undersell a hugely impressive and highly enjoyable release. I Used To Be Down is a fantastic album, period.

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