Little Freddie King - I Use To Be Down (2025) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

GUT-BUCKET BLUES MASTER Little Freddie King, he used to be down but his fans have raised him up. He moved out of his run-down apartment in a deteriorating neighborhood and moved to Musician Village, located in New Orleans upper 9th Ward. His domineering wife who shot him once has long since gone to her eternal rest. He got rid of his rickety bicycle and bought a new two wheel Cadillac, an electric bike (EV). It is easier on his 84 year old legs he says. His tormented ulcers have healed and no more headaches, only an occasional visit from “Arthur”… arthritis that is. Keeping busy playing his guitar and a few gigs is his dose of blues medicine that keeps him moving forward. Like a fine wine, this collection of songs is the best yet because they have aged. (“Wacko” Wade, MadeWright Records)

We first cottoned onto Fread Martin, a.k.a. Little Freddie King, a few years back when he released his GREAT "You Don't Know What I Know" disc for Fat Possum, the great Mississippi label dedicated to overlooked older bluesmen who play gutsy, lo-fi blues. A hard-living character who has been playing the rural electric blues of his native Mississippi in the lowest bowels of NEW ORLEANS' now-devastated Ninth Ward for years, King and his band have a penchant for hard-hitting, minimalist chords and lyrics, delivered by a cracked, heavily lived-in voice. Much of King's material has an old-style blues feel, but he is at his most charming when he strips it down to just guitar and howling vocals as depicted on his 2008 "Messin' Around tha House" and excellent live performance on his 2010 "Gotta to Walk with da King".

TRACKLIST

1. Little Freddie King - Bywater Crawl
2. Little Freddie King - Pocket Full of Money
3. Little Freddie King - Going Up The Mountain
4. Little Freddie King - Bad News
5. Little Freddie King - I Used To Be Down
6. Little Freddie King - Coming Home to Jesus
7. Little Freddie King - Bus Station Blues
8. Little Freddie King - Standing At Your Door
9. Little Freddie King - Can't Do Nothing Baby
10. Little Freddie King - Mean Little Woman
11. Little Freddie King - Going Upstairs (Live)



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