Little Freddie King is one of the last great roadhouse blues guitarists — a Mississippi-born, New Orleans-adopted singer and guitarist who has been playing the real thing in the city's clubs and at Jazz Fest since 1970, appeared in Beyoncé's Lemonade, and is now, at 85, facing a serious health crisis that his community is rallying to support.
Biography
Born Fread Eugene Martin in McComb, Mississippi in 1940, Little Freddie King hopped a train to New Orleans as a teenager and never looked back. He absorbed the city's blues tradition from the ground up, playing in clubs, on street corners, and at any venue that would have him, developing a raw, intensely personal guitar style rooted in the Delta but shaped by decades of New Orleans street life. His home base has long been BJ's Lounge in the Bywater, the kind of neighborhood bar where the music is played for its own sake and the audience is in the room with you.
King has performed at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival every year since its founding in 1970 — one of the few artists who can claim that distinction. His recordings, made sporadically over several decades, document a musician of genuine and uncompromised originality. He appeared alongside Beyoncé in her Lemonade visual album, a moment that briefly brought him to a vastly wider audience without changing anything about who he is or how he plays.
In September 2025, King fell from his newly acquired electric bicycle and suffered a serious head injury. He spent 40 days in a rehabilitation center and another 20 in a nursing facility relearning to walk with a rolling walker. Four months later he was reinjured in a fall and is now confined to a wheelchair, with his manager and longtime drummer Wade "Wacko" Wright describing significant mobility and activity limitations. He has been unable to perform, which has created a serious financial hardship — made worse when the new owner of the Musicians Village home he had rented for years tripled his rent.
In late March 2026, just months after the accident, King released Live at BJ's Lounge — a double LP recorded live at his home venue just before the accident. It is available at Louisiana Music Factory and local record stores. The Krewe of Red Beans is raising funds to support his care, with every dollar going directly to him. King has expressed hope to make one final Jazz Fest appearance, singing from his wheelchair while a fill-in guitarist handles the instrument.
Discography
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