I am a blues guitar playing pastor of a local church. This blog is about music,especially Blues, theology, humor, culture and anything else that rolls through my brain.
I grew up in Northwest Detroit, Michigan, my neighborhood had a whole lot of musicians. My parents bought me an inexpensive electric guitar and I took lessons for about six months. After that it was listen to records and learn by ear. The first band I was in was called The Garfield Blues Band. I was sitting in the cafeteria at Oakland Community College playing the guitar instead of attending classes, and I was approached by Garfield and asked if I could play bass, I said yes and he gave me the address where they were auditioning band members. I borrowed a bass and an amplifier and my musical career was launched. From there I joined the James Peterson Blues Band, in Buffalo, New York, featuring "Little Lucky". Lucky was a four year old prodigy who played the Hammond B-3 organ, and had perfect pitch. Later on I joined The Sam Lay Blues Band (sometimes called The Sam Lay Blues Revival) in Chicago, Illinois. Our lead singer, Lucille Span, was the widow of famous Blues piano player Otis Span. Sam played in the original Paul Butterfield Blues Band and backed Bob Dylan when he went electric at Newport. Sam also played on Dylan’s Highway 61 album. (Sam Lay is the greatest Blues shuffle drummer of all time.) After playing with Sam I did a stint with Johnny Little John and then formed a band called Cash Money. The last band I was in before following the call to ministry was called Sky Dive. This is a basic sketch, leaving out all stories. Jesus Christ saved me in 1975 and called me into Christian ministry. I never quit playing the Blues. Now after many years, I am working on a Blues CD under the title Rev. Freer and The Back From the Dead Blues Band.
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