Freddy Weller: Listen to the Young Folks

Freddy Weller, a talented singer/guitarist from Atlanta, Georgia first gained wide exposure as a member of Paul Revere and the Raiders from 1967 to 1971. Those of us in his hometown were already familiar with him as a member of Billy Joe Royal's band and his session work at Bill Lowery's studio. Although he seemed over-qualified to be a Raider, that group was very commercially successful at that time (one of the first rock groups signed by Columbia) and Freddy used the opportunity as a stepping stone in his career. After leaving the Raiders in the early '70s he recorded several albums on Columbia and established a moderately successful solo career in country music.

Freddy Weller

His 1970 album Listen To The Young Folks contains a cover of "Up On Cripple Creek." With his country accent, Freddy's voice sounded like a cross between fellow Georgians Bill Anderson and Gram Parsons. As a fine lead guitar player, he was one of the first artists to use one of Clarence White & Gene Parsons's B-stringbender guitars. Although his albums were promoted as country and played on country music stations, he was among the vanguard of musicians to add the cross-over influence of rock to traditional country.

Freddy's fine version of "Up On Cripple Creek" is pretty faithful to the original but he adds tasty stringbender guitar turn-a-rounds in place of Garth's "black box" clavinet part. The album, as a whole, still stands up after almost thirty years. Other highlights include two songs written by fellow Atlantan Joe South ("Down In The Boondocks" & "Children), a version of Merle Haggard's "Okie From Muskogee", and a cover of Kris Kristofferson's "Sunday Morning Comin' Down." The album closes with the excellent song "Amarillo, Texas", written by Freddy along with Tommy Roe.

In the early to mid "70s, several songs recorded by Freddy would get air play on country music radio stations. These songs included covers of Gene Clark's "Roadmaster", Joe South's "Games People Play" and Chuck Berry's "Promised Land."

--David Powell, The Band guestbook, March 2000

Tracks

1. Listen to the Young Folks
2. Children
3. Look for Me When You See Me Comin'
4. Sunday Morning Coming Down
5. I Shook the Hand
6. Down in the Boondocks
7. Okie from Muskogee
8. That Little Boy
9. Up on Cripple Creek
10. We Gotta All Get Together
11. Amarillo Texas

Freddy Weller - Listen to the Young Folks - 1970 - Columbia 1036