Earl King

Guitarist Earl King earned widespread esteem in his Crescent City base for both his stage work and his songwriting, sustaining a leading role in New Orleans R&B across more than forty years. Born Earl Johnson, he found the recordings of Texas guitarists T-Bone Walker and Gatemouth Brown nearly as compelling as the onstage shows of hometown standouts Smiley Lewis and Tuts Washington. At the Club Tijuana—one of his preferred stops alongside the Dew Drop—he encountered his chief inspiration and mentor, Guitar Slim, and the pair quickly formed a close bond. Credited still as Earl Johnson, he made his recording debut in 1953 for Savoy with “Have You Gone Crazy,” marking the first of many notable contributions from his longtime associate Huey “Piano” Smith.

The following year he adopted the name Earl King upon joining Specialty, after label chief Art Rupe’s plan to bill him as King Earl was reversed by the typesetter. His initial Specialty release, “A Mother’s Love,” served as a precise tribute to Guitar Slim and was produced by Johnny Vincent, who soon established Ace Records with King among its key roster members. King’s debut Ace single, the landmark two-chord south Louisiana blues “Those Lonely, Lonely Nights,” reached national R&B charts despite a near-identical version by Johnny “Guitar” Watson, aided in no small measure by Smith’s buoyant piano.

He stayed with Ace for the remainder of the decade, issuing a steady succession of strong New Orleans R&B sides backed by the exceptional house band at Cosimo’s studio. In 1960 he shifted to Imperial to collaborate with producer Dave Bartholomew, resulting in the enduring “Come On,” also known as “Let the Good Times Roll,” followed by the witty “Trick Bag” in 1961 and a second chart entry, “Always a First Time,” in 1962. Throughout the sixties he supplied standout material for Fats Domino, Professor Longhair, and Lee Dorsey. A prospective 1963 agreement with Motown collapsed at the final moment, yet King navigated the challenges of the late sixties and seventies with notable resilience. The nineties brought renewed momentum after he signed with Black Top, yielding the outstanding albums Sexual Telepathy in 1990 and Hard River to Cross three years later. He passed away in April 2003 from diabetes-related complications.