Porky Freeman
Porky Freeman | |
---|---|
Birth name | Quilla Hugh Freeman |
Born |
Vera Cruz, Missouri, United States | June 29, 1916
Died |
July 8, 2001 85) Orange, California | (aged
Genres | Western swing |
Occupations | Musician, songwriter, bandleader |
Instruments | Electric guitar |
Years active | 1940s-1950s |
Associated acts | The Porky Freeman Trio |
Quilla Hugh "Porky" Freeman (born June 29, 1916, Vera Cruz, Missouri, United States– July 8, 2001)[1] is an American Western swing performer, bandleader, and songwriter. He is also an electric guitar pioneer and inventor.[2]
In the 1940s he led the Californian based band, the 'Porky Freeman Trio'. One of his early hits, "Porky's Boogie Woogie on Strings", began rock and roll's evolution out of Western swing.[3] As a session musician he backed many of the popular musicians of the time.
His early experimentation with the electric guitar led to several patents for the instrument.[4][5][6] One of the patents, 'Single Pickup Frequency Control For String Instrument',[5] led to legal wrangling with Fender.[citation needed]
A CD of Porky's early 4Star recordings is available online at hillbilly-country-shop.de
References
- ↑ Porky Freeman at AllMusic. Retrieved January 2010.]
- ↑ Doyle, Peter (2005). Echo and Reverb: Fabricating Space in Popular Music Recording, 1900-1960. Wesleyan University Press. ISBN 0-8195-6794-9. "Porky Freeman began adapting boogie bass patterns to the electric guitar in the mid-1940s"
- ↑ La Chapelle, Peter (2007). Proud to Be an Okie: Cultural Politics, Country Music, and Migration to Southern California. University of California Press. p. 95. ISBN 0-520-24888-0. "Porky Freeman and Red Murrell, the session musicians on Jack Guthrie's 'Oakie Boogie,' even recorded a guitar instrumental, 'Porky's Boogie Woogie on Strings' which many enthusiast argued invoked Memphis barrelhouse music and anticipated rock and roll. Cut during the war, the independent release proved so popular that Freeman and Murrell released it, putting it on both side of the disc to keep jukebox listeners from wearing out the groove."
- ↑ US patent 3035472, "Stringed musical instrument"
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 US patent 3657461, "Single Pickup Frequency Control For String Instrument"
- ↑ US patent 4122746, "Stringed musical instrument pick".