Left us on this day (March. 08) in 2009: contemporary Mississippi blues musician Willie King (heart attack, age 65); he reluctantly began his music career late in life, having first worked as a sharecropper, moonshiner & traveling salesman; he became active with the civil rights movement, which inspired him to write socially conscious blues songs – he described his music as “struggling blues” because of its focus on the “injustices in life in the rural South”; it wasn’t until 1999 that he started recording – Born on a cotton plantation in Prairie Point, Mississippi in 1943 the son of poor sharecroppers, Willie was drawn to the blues at an early age. He made his first guitar out of bailing wire when he was seven and has been playing ever since. Cotton picker, moon shiner, juke joint owner, civil rights activist and social worker,
His 2000 releases ‘Freedom Creek’ & ‘I Am The Blues’, were the first of six albums; he largely shunned fame, preferring to keep his performances close to home at Bettie’s Juke Joint in Mississippi; Willie was the primary subject of the film ‘Down in the Woods’ & also one of the artists profiled in Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Blues: Feels Like Going Home’ documentary…
“Down in the Woods” is a DVD about the life and music of Alabama bluesman Willie King. The film takes viewers on a journey into the world of Willie King, a backwood, juke-joint musician who lives and breathes the blues every moment of his life. The DVD is a fascinating collage of Willie King’s life and many activities, illuminated with searing live performances and encounters with his family, friends, fellow musicians like T-Model Ford and music experts such as Peter Guralnick. It enables the viewer to experience what it is like to be a bluesman living in the Alabama Black Belt, “down in the woods.”
Willie now is one of the most popular blues musicians around. He played big stages and festivals but always returned to his beloved Old Memphis, a small and mostly African-American community in rural Alabama where he lives in an old trailer and preaches the blues at house parties and in ramshackle juke joints. Willie spent much of his time supporting his local community and teaching young people the traditional culture and survival skills passed on to him from his people’s share cropping and slave ancestors. Willie King is one of the true innovators of the blues in the tradition of Howlin’ Wolf and John Lee Hooker. His music is powerful, an exciting, danceable mix of rural blues, soul and boogie, all in his own distinctive style. King’s lyrics are often political, fighting racism and a voice for poor blacks in the South. He preaches a message of peace, togetherness and social justice for all people around the world.
The Fat Angel Sings 