Biography
Though guitarist Charlie Freeman commands deep respect throughout his native Memphis, his stature and contributions stay virtually unknown beyond the city limits. Within a scene that produced talents such as Steve Cropper, Jim Dickinson, and Tommy McClure, it was Freeman whose skills drew the most envy from peers. At the same time, his death at age 31, brought on by years of drug and alcohol abuse, delivered a stark caution about the rock & roll lifestyle to everyone who knew him.
While attending Messick High School alongside future Memphis notables Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn, and Don Nix, Freeman helped form the Royal Spades in the late ’50s. The R&B outfit was assembled expressly to work the roadhouses and bars surrounding Memphis. Already capable of reading music at a level far above what those venues required, he finished at Messick and left the Royal Spades—by then renamed the Mar-Keys—to join the Joe Lee Orchestra on the road. During a Chicago engagement with the orchestra, a radio broadcast announced the Mar-Keys’ hit single “Last Night”; Freeman immediately returned to Memphis, rejoined his former band, and spent the next two years touring with them on one-nighters nationwide.
Once the Mar-Keys’ momentum faded, Freeman resumed road work, this time alongside Jerry Lee Lewis. The pair traveled through the mid-South and Texas, where both were arrested on drug charges—an incident that reached Walter Cronkite’s CBS newscast. By the mid-’60s Freeman had settled back in Memphis and taken a steadier role as a session guitarist. Over the following two years his refined, understated playing appeared on recordings by Chuck Berry, Slim Harpo, and Bobby Bland, while he also performed at local blues and country festivals with Jim Dickinson and other Memphis musicians.
Eventually Freeman secured ongoing session work at Stan Kessler’s Sounds of Memphis studio. Alongside bassist Tommy McClure, pianist Jim Dickinson, and drummer Sammy Creason, the musicians supplied the rhythm section for Albert Collins’ Grammy-nominated Trash Talkin’ album, which drew the attention of Atlantic Records president Jerry Wexler. Having recently moved to Miami, Wexler sought a house band comparable to those he had encountered at Stax, FAME, and American. The musicians, now calling themselves the Dixie Flyers, accepted a one-year contract with Atlantic and relocated to Miami.
Their initial major assignment was Aretha Franklin’s Spirit in the Dark, an album viewed as pivotal to her career. Freeman’s assured solos prompted Wexler to declare, “Charlie Freeman is the only one who can take a real solo.” The record succeeded commercially, and the group went on to appear on fourteen albums within a six-month span, supporting artists ranging from Sam & Dave and Lulu to Sam the Sham, Ronnie Hawkins, and Jerry Jeff Walker. Work remained inconsistent, however, and after completing an unreleased instrumental album the musicians accepted a touring position behind Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson.
Unemployed and back in Memphis by 1972, Freeman had ample opportunity to deepen the substance-abuse pattern he had begun years earlier. In his final period he rarely picked up the guitar. When Tommy McClure offered him a chance to work with Texas guitarist Marc Benno, the opportunity proved fatal. On only his fourth night in Texas, after heavy drug use, Freeman passed out and died by choking on his own vomit.
While attending Messick High School alongside future Memphis notables Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn, and Don Nix, Freeman helped form the Royal Spades in the late ’50s. The R&B outfit was assembled expressly to work the roadhouses and bars surrounding Memphis. Already capable of reading music at a level far above what those venues required, he finished at Messick and left the Royal Spades—by then renamed the Mar-Keys—to join the Joe Lee Orchestra on the road. During a Chicago engagement with the orchestra, a radio broadcast announced the Mar-Keys’ hit single “Last Night”; Freeman immediately returned to Memphis, rejoined his former band, and spent the next two years touring with them on one-nighters nationwide.
Once the Mar-Keys’ momentum faded, Freeman resumed road work, this time alongside Jerry Lee Lewis. The pair traveled through the mid-South and Texas, where both were arrested on drug charges—an incident that reached Walter Cronkite’s CBS newscast. By the mid-’60s Freeman had settled back in Memphis and taken a steadier role as a session guitarist. Over the following two years his refined, understated playing appeared on recordings by Chuck Berry, Slim Harpo, and Bobby Bland, while he also performed at local blues and country festivals with Jim Dickinson and other Memphis musicians.
Eventually Freeman secured ongoing session work at Stan Kessler’s Sounds of Memphis studio. Alongside bassist Tommy McClure, pianist Jim Dickinson, and drummer Sammy Creason, the musicians supplied the rhythm section for Albert Collins’ Grammy-nominated Trash Talkin’ album, which drew the attention of Atlantic Records president Jerry Wexler. Having recently moved to Miami, Wexler sought a house band comparable to those he had encountered at Stax, FAME, and American. The musicians, now calling themselves the Dixie Flyers, accepted a one-year contract with Atlantic and relocated to Miami.
Their initial major assignment was Aretha Franklin’s Spirit in the Dark, an album viewed as pivotal to her career. Freeman’s assured solos prompted Wexler to declare, “Charlie Freeman is the only one who can take a real solo.” The record succeeded commercially, and the group went on to appear on fourteen albums within a six-month span, supporting artists ranging from Sam & Dave and Lulu to Sam the Sham, Ronnie Hawkins, and Jerry Jeff Walker. Work remained inconsistent, however, and after completing an unreleased instrumental album the musicians accepted a touring position behind Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson.
Unemployed and back in Memphis by 1972, Freeman had ample opportunity to deepen the substance-abuse pattern he had begun years earlier. In his final period he rarely picked up the guitar. When Tommy McClure offered him a chance to work with Texas guitarist Marc Benno, the opportunity proved fatal. On only his fourth night in Texas, after heavy drug use, Freeman passed out and died by choking on his own vomit.
Albums
Singles
