I don’t normally stray far from the movies, but I just had to comment on a tremendous loss to us here in Tuscaloosa, and to the music world in general. Internationally-known bluesman Willie King passed away last Sunday — Sunday week as we say around here — near his home in Old Memphis, Alabama. Not only was Mr. King a fine blues musician in the juke-joint tradition, but he was a community activist who made a real difference just west of here in Pickens County, one of the most impoverished areas in the country.
Although not a household names in blues, Willie King was known to have loved and lived the blues all his life, and was quite popular in Alabama and his birth-state of Mississippi. In recent years, he gained a measure of wider fame, and recorded and played festivals around the world.
I had the privilege of knowing Mr. King slightly, and hearing him and his band The Liberators play. As some of you know, I’m a pastor; my church hosts the Alabama Blues Project’s Summer outreach, one of the programs with which Willie was associated. It is quite a wonderful thing to walk into a staid, Presbyterian church and hear pounding electric blues rockin’ the Fellowship Hall.
Here are a couple of videos so you can see Willie in action.
From the Willie King DVD documentary “Down in the Woods”
You can learn more about Willie and the Alabama Blues Project here.
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Very moving tribute, Rick. It’s always nice when artists and musicians are recognized for the personal mark/legacy they have left on others.
Thanks, Daniel. A lot of people will miss Willie around here.
This is a lovely, lovely remebrance. I almost feel as if I know him from these homespun video homages. I bet he was peerless and I am very saddened at his passing.
Thanks Sam, the blues is dying in the Southeast, right along with the bluesmen. It’s very sad.
Nice post, thanks! Memphis still holds a special place in my heart, I spent some time in my twenties there and still remember visits to Graceland, Beale Street, and of course the blues clubs.