Dennis Edward Freeman (August 7, 1944 – April 25, 2021) was an American

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

and

electric blues Electric blues is blues music distinguished by the use of electric amplification for musical instruments. The guitar was the first instrument to be popularly amplified and used by early pioneers T-Bone Walker in the late 1930s and John Lee Ho ...

guitarist. Although he is primarily known as a guitar player, Freeman also played piano and electronic organ, both in concert and on various recordings. He worked with

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (also known as SRV; October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (band), Double Trouble. Although his ma ...

, Jimmie Vaughan,

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

, Angela Strehli, Lou Ann Barton,

James Cotton James Henry Cotton (July 1, 1935 – March 16, 2017) was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, who performed and recorded with many fellow blues artists and with his own band. He also played drums early in his career. ...

Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal ( ; ; ) is an ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was commissioned in 1631 by the fifth Mughal Empire, Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his belo ...

Barry Goldberg Barry Joseph Goldberg (December 25, 1941 – January 22, 2025) was an American blues and rock keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer. Goldberg co-produced albums by Percy Sledge, Charlie Musselwhite, James Cotton, and the Textones, plu ...

and

Percy Sledge Percy Tyrone Sledge (November 25, 1940 – April 14, 2015) was an American R&B, soul and gospel singer. He is best known for the song " When a Man Loves a Woman", a No. 1 hit on both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and R&B singles charts in 19 ...

amongst others.

Early life

Freeman was born in

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

, on August 7, 1944. He spent his adolescence in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, Texas, in the late 1950s and played in a rock group called The Corals while in high school. He went to college in

North Texas North Texas is a term used primarily by residents of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to refer to a geographic area of Texas, generally considered to include the area south of Oklahoma, east of Abilene, Texas, Abilene, west of Paris, Texas, Par ...

, and had a brief stay in Los Angeles, before relocating in 1970 to

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

Career

Freeman started his career as co-lead guitarist in the Cobras with Stevie Ray Vaughan. He became a founding member of Southern Feeling in 1972, along with W. C. Clark and Angela Strehli. He later recorded with Lou Ann Barton. Freeman lived and played with both Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan throughout the 1970s and 1980s. He played piano on Jimmie Vaughan's first solo tour, and on a

album. At Antone's

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

in the early 1980s, Freeman was a member of the

house band A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which ...

and backed

Otis Rush Otis Rush Jr. (April 29, 1934 – September 29, 2018) was an American blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter who has been long revered as one of the creators of modern Chicago blues; though he was respected and praised, the success he sought e ...

Albert Collins Albert Gene Collins (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993)Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. He was noted for his powerful playing ...

Buddy Guy George "Buddy" Guy (born July 30, 1936) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaug ...

Junior Wells Junior Wells (born Amos Wells Blakemore Jr.; December 9, 1934January 15, 1998) was an American singer, harmonica player, and recording artist. He is best known for his signature song " Messin' with the Kid" and his 1965 album '' Hoodoo Man Blues ...

, and

Lazy Lester Leslie Johnson (June 20, 1933 – August 22, 2018), known as Lazy Lester, was an American blues musician who sang and played the harmonica and guitar. In a career spanning the 1950s to 2018, he pioneered swamp blues, and also played harmonic ...

. After touring with Jimmie Vaughan in the mid 1990s he toured with Taj Mahal until 2002. A songwriter on his five mainly

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

albums, Freeman lived again in Los Angeles from 1992 until 2004. Freeman played with

's backing band between 2005 and 2009. Dylan's album, '' Modern Times'' was recorded with Dylan's then touring band, including Freeman, Tony Garnier, George G. Receli, Stu Kimball, plus multi-instrumentalist Donnie Herron. During a 2006 interview with ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'', Dylan spoke about his current band: Denny_Freeman_-_AMA_Hall_of_Fame_2010_-_Ron_Baker

Clem Burke Clement Anthony Burke (né Bozewski; November 24, 1954 – April 6, 2025) was an American musician best known as the drummer for the band Blondie. He joined the band shortly after its formation in 1975 and remained with Blondie throughout the b ...

played the drums on Freeman's solo offering, ''Twang Bang'' (2006).

Later life

Freeman was inducted into the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame in 2009. Freeman died on April 25, 2021, in

. He was 76, and was diagnosed with abdominal cancer several weeks before his death.

Credits

*Freeman co-wrote "Baboom/Mama Said" on The Vaughan Brothers' 1990 album, '' Family Style'' *He played piano on Jimmie Vaughan's 1994 album, ''Strange Pleasure'', and organ on his 1998 follow-up, ''Out There''. *He co-wrote "Boom Boom in the Zoom Zoom Room" on Blondie's 1999 ''

No Exit ''No Exit'' (, ) is a 1944 existentialist French play by Jean-Paul Sartre. The play was first performed at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier in May 1944. The play centers around a depiction of the afterlife in which three deceased characters a ...

'' album. *Freeman played guitar on

and the Phantom Blues Band's

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

winning live album, '' Shoutin' in Key'' (2000). *He played guitar on

's 2004 album, ''Shining Through the Rain'', and co-wrote with Fontaine Brown the song "Love Come and Rescue Me". * He played guitar on Bob Dylan’s 2006 album '' Modern Times''. *Freeman played guitar, organ and piano on Doyle Bramhall's 2007 album, ''Is It News''. *He played guitar on two of

's albums, ''Stoned Again'' (2002) and ''In the Groove'' (2018).

Discography

*''Blues Cruise'' (1986) – Amazing *''Out of the Blue'' (1987) – Amazing *''Denny Freeman'' (1991) – Amazing *''A Tone for My Sins'' (1997) – Dallas Blues Society *''Denny Freeman and the Cobras'' (live album) (2000) – Crosscut (Germany) *''Twang Bang'' (2006) – V8 *''Diggin on Dylan'' (2012) – V8 Records

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Freeman, Denny 1944 births 2021 deaths American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues pianists American male pianists Songwriters from Florida Texas blues musicians Electric blues musicians Musicians from Orlando, Florida Songwriters from Texas Guitarists from Florida Guitarists from Texas 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American pianists 21st-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians American male songwriters