| I must have been about 16 or 17. I was a | | | | might have been that track, and was always |
| guitar nut by then. I couldn't play much, but | | | | disappointed. Freddie King, sadly, became a |
| I was a fan; a big fan of guitars. Any music | | | | disappointment. |
| on TV was carefully screened to see if any | | | | |
| serious guitar players were involved. I was | | | | Roll forward over 30 years. |
| into rock music, but I had enough | | | | |
| understanding of the genre to know that most | | | | Freddie King is no longer with us. He died a |
| of the stuff I loved to listen to had evolved | | | | few short years after the TV show I saw. But |
| from the blues. | | | | I have never forgotten that one single |
| | | | performance. |
| One of the pre-requisites of my blues | | | | |
| education was a late night program in the UK, | | | | I was in a music store in Bristol (near where |
| called the Old Grey Whistle Test, I am | | | | I live), looking for a Christmas present for |
| ashamed to say that although most of the | | | | my wife. This is a bit of a ritual for me |
| music (I now know) was great, I turned my | | | | now. I go and brave the crowds at the Mall, |
| nose up at most of it. I could just about | | | | looking for something for my, wife, and end |
| tolerate a keyboard or piano, but brass | | | | up in a music store. It happens every year. |
| instruments were most definitely for pansies. | | | | As luck would have it, I had found something |
| You couldn't get more removed from rock and | | | | for my better half, and was just looking at |
| roll than a trumpet or a trombone! | | | | the shelves to see if there was anything from |
| | | | my youth, when I came upon the DVD section. I |
| I digress. | | | | like the DVD's more than the CD's to be |
| | | | honest. Live performances of artists long |
| One night, I saw that the OGWT roster had | | | | lost to me are one of the shining lights of |
| someone called Freddie King on. I had heard | | | | the modern age. |
| of him, because I had heard of most people. I | | | | |
| may have barely scraped through my | | | | So I was browsing through the DVD's and what |
| traditional education, but at my Rock n Roll | | | | did I see? Yes, you've guessed, some archives |
| studies, I was definitely an A grade student. | | | | of the OGWT. I wasn't even thinking of |
| | | | Freddie King, but on one of the DVD's, there |
| So, Freddie King was on offer, and I felt I | | | | was Freddie, listed in the credits for, yes, |
| had to give the man an airing. So I tuned in. | | | | Boogie Funk. I nearly wet myself. Do you ever |
| A big man our Freddie. He was introduced, and | | | | get moments of pure excitement and |
| after a brief pause, started cooking with an | | | | anticipation? I did in the shop. Needless to |
| instrumental number called Boogie Funk. | | | | say, I bought the DVD, and rushed home. |
| | | | |
| I was awe struck. | | | | Freddie King's performance was almost exactly |
| | | | how I remembered it. The excitement was the |
| I loved it. This guy was something else. | | | | same, the energy was the same. I had |
| | | | discovered a window to my adolescence. |
| Over the months (and years) that followed, I | | | | Freddie played a Gibson ES 335 guitar (I |
| searched every record store I knew for | | | | think) and played a pivotal blues boogie. |
| Freddie King albums, seeking out this tune; | | | | Just for me. |
| Boogie Funk. And could I find it? No. I | | | | |
| bought several albums of Freddie's, and was | | | | Freddie, I am sorry that I lost you for all |
| always disappointed because it was not on any | | | | those years. You were lost, but never |
| of them. I thought I had misheard the name of | | | | forgotten. And now you are back, I am yours |
| the track, so I looked for anything that | | | | again for ever; a fan again! |