WILLIE KINGWillie King, who died on 8 March, 2009, aged 65, was a delta blues guitarist and singer who shunned potential stardom to play the music he loved in a juke joint back home.After entering the recording studios for the first time in 1999 where he recorded Freedom Creek, the first of a string of acclaimed albums, he began touring the country.But soon he found himself homesick and came home where he was a regular at Betties bar in Mississippi, playing his own brand of protest blues in the midst of lively crowds.He called his music ‘struggling blues’, focusing on the hardships of his people in the Deep South. Born in Prairie Point, Mississippi, in 1943, his first instrument was a makeshift diddley bow, a wire nailed to a tree. Similarly, his first guitar only had one string.He began his working life as a travelling salesman before becoming an active member of the civil rights movement, working to preserve black cultural heritage. In 1997 he founded the Freedom Creek Festival and a few years later he began his belated recording career.Over the course of his short career he was the recipient of several awards from Living Blues magazine who named him their ‘Artist of the Year’ and his work the ‘Best Album’ and ‘Best Song’ of various years. He also featured in Martin Scorsese’s 2003 blues documentary Feel Like Going Home.
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