BARRY KING

THE OFFICIAL BARRY KING
MYSPACE PAGE
Barry King was 11 years old when he received his first guitar as a Christmas present in 1964. Along with a Beatles' chord book and a Chet Atkins album with the song, “Freight Train.” which he learned that first day.
His first band was called the Tenneseans, a 4 pc Beatles type band. He was lead player for the Tenneseans for a year or so then when he was 13 he moved onto his second band… the Dynamics, an R&B band with horns. Around this time he discovered Curtis Mayfield and was influenced by his style, especially his rhythm. Steve Cropper also became a major influence and the whole Memphis and Muscle Shoals R&B scene.
In 1967, Barry heard Jimi Hendrix's first album which was the most unique music he had heard up to that point. It was loud blues oozing with feel and emotion. While being influenced by Jimi's playing at this time, by 1968 Barry was also discovering some of the finer Jazz guitarists of the time. Such as Wes Montgomery, with his unmatched tone and melodic content. Django Reinhardt, with his arpeggio style of soloing. And others like Kenny Burrell, Joe Pass, Jimmy Raney & Larry Coryell. Of this bunch, Wes Montgomery was his favorite.
Later in 1968, he heard Cream and Led Zeppelin for the first time. He thought, "Man…these guys are as good as Hendrix, just different. They all have their own styles. That’s the way to play rock and roll…loud, ballsy, blues. But be original." He had a vision at that point.
In 1969, Barry got hooked on the blues. Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Albert King & B.B. King. The simplicity of these blues greats helped Barry to slow down and concentrate on being tasteful when needed. However, fast and flashy was still the order of the day. And of course testosterone fueled!
The fall of 1970, Barry moved to Louisville, Ky and played in many bands until meeting Charlie Daniels in March of 1973. He joined Charlie’s band, and thought he’d died and gone to heaven playing loads of shows that summer. At this time, Charlie had his first hit, “Uneasy Rider.” Billy Cox (Formerly the bass player with Jimi Hendrix & Band of Gypsys) joined Charlie's band shortly after Barry did and the two of them roomed together on the road. Together they wrote many songs together. Barry gave his notice to Charlie later that year as Billy wanted to get a drummer and release their own album. Barry's last gig with the Charlie Daniels Band was September of 1973, New York City- Carnegie Hall! Barry says if he ever gets the chance to play there again, this time he'll have someone take pictures!!
After playing in too many bands to list here for the rest of the 70's and 80's, Barry did a home recording of a "Voodoo Child/Jesus Just Left Chicago" type of thing and decided to send it to Billy Cox. Billy responded with “Let’s meet in Chicago with Buddy Miles .” Buddy was the drummer for Jimi Hendrix and Band of Gypsys and even sang some of the songs on the epic recording of the Live Band of Gypsys show New Year's 1970. In March of 1989, four songs were recorded with Billy and Buddy at Paragon Studios in downtown Chicago.
Unfortunately, the recordings Barry did with Billy and Buddy are languishing in a storage bin in Paragon Studios somewhere. He still hopes that they'll see the light of day...someday.
Barry also was on both of Taz DiGregorio's (keyboardist for the Charlie Daniels band) solo albums from 1999 and 2001. The first one was entitled, "Midnight In Savannah" and along with Barry, featured: Johnny Neal (of the Allman Brothers), Bonnie Bramlett and Charlie himself.
Lately, Barry has been playing guitar with Louisville's Merry Pranksters. With his Purple Garage Studio up and running, Barry is writing and recording songs in many different styles and starting a whole new, exciting chapter in the Barry King story!