entertaining, King seemed primed for something akin to Albert
Collins’ 1980s success. But on Christmas 1976, Freddie King
played his last gig at the New York Ballroom in Dallas. Three
days later the 42-year-old bluesman was dead. A variety of
factors, foremost among them acute pancreatitis, led to King’s
untimely death.
His legacy is felt in both the music he left and the influ-
ence he exerted on younger artists, among them many white
Texans who first learned about blues by way of King. “Freddie
was my hero,” says contemporary country hit maker Lee Roy
Parnell, who recalls an occasion when he met King. “I got a
chance to sit and talk to Freddie King for about twenty min-
utes,” says Parnell. “We talked guitar and we talked about the
blues and we talked about color. We talked about a lot of
things. And for him to take the time out to spend with me like
that affected me in a really positive way. I loved Freddie very
much.”
Photo by Walt M. Casey Jr.