Miss Freddye: Pittsburgh's Lady Of The Blues

As Pittsburgh's Lady Of The Blues,  Miss Freddye keeps the blues alive in her native hometown of Pittsburgh

She started singing in church at a young age. The influence of church and her mother's love of the Blues gave Miss Freddye the beginning to venture in the world of Blues Music in 1996. She joined BMW(Blues  Music  Works) under the direction of Big AL Leavitt.  In 2002, Miss Freddye formed her own band,  "Blue Faze". Several years later, she became Miss Freddye's Blues Band and Miss Freddye's Homecookin' Band.

Her Influences include: Koko Taylor,  Etta James, Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday,  Big Mama Thornton,  Big AL Leavitt,  and Bessie Smith

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Y'all knows it.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
This is a video.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
And you are Oh, bless your heart. This is the
Coda Podcast, qual iten Pittsburgh's music scene.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
And welcome in.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
I'm Johnny Hartwell, your host, along with Andy Pugar. Today
we've talked to Pittsburgh's Lady of the Blues, Miss Freddy.

Speaker 2 (00:28):
I'm frozen, which I just watched the movie Frozen one
and two the other I love that. I love Frozen. Sorry, no,
I've watched cartoons. That's just me. I've been doing it
all my life. So I said, you be you? Can
you be anybody else?

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Can you sing in the songs?

Speaker 2 (00:45):
No? Why? Because I don't know the words? I don't
I don't know the words to to anybody.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
No, listen, I've been in the radio for forty years.
I don't know the words that any songs.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
That's why A little.

Speaker 1 (00:58):
Talking to people like you, because you know, I just think,
oh my god, they have like a gift from God.
I just don't understand. And then they have a voice
like yours. You're like, it's just a handful of people
who have that ability. Yeah yeah, when did you When
did you realize that you had it? I?

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Yeah, yeah, Actually in ninety six when the bass player
I was dating, he he heard me sing Silent Night
acapella and I love Silent Night, and I was singing
it to my son, he was three at the time,
just because that's how I put my kids to sleep.
And he's like, I didn't know you could sing, and
I said I didn't know either, And that's when he

(01:40):
told me they were looking for a singer for their
for the blues band he was in. I was very hesitant,
but he was such a nice boyfriend, so I'm like, okay,
I'll give it a try.

Speaker 1 (01:50):
So well, tell us how what you know. It's a
difference to me doing, you know, singing to your your
son a little lullaby at home and then hey, you know, yeah,
here's this band behind me and go ahead, go oh no.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
I was behind the band after I joined, so I
auditioned in the house. It was Great Blues Music Works BMW,
and I was scared to death because I had stage fright.
I developed that at fifteen. I sang in a church
choir did a solo bombed it. It was the church
went silent. Church was pat church was silent. I said,

(02:27):
oh my God, please help me. I wanted to cry,
but I couldn't, you know, fifteen year old get so
after that, I had stage right, so I never got
up and you know, like sang did a solo any
church choir. So I auditioned for the band that evening.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
And remember what you had to sing?

Speaker 2 (02:45):
No? I was so scared to death. No, I don't.
And then they did a one four or five. So
I just kind of made up words because I really
didn't know anything. Like I wasn't into blues all like that,
you know, growing up in a household mom did blues
and dad did and I'm like, ugh, like really, what
did you listen to as a kid though, Anything from

(03:06):
Motown like Temptations, Supremes, the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel. I
was all over the map, you know with music, and
when it came to blues and country, I'm like, really,
who listens to that stuff? I couldn't say that to
my parents, though, because that was their thing. My mom
loved the blues bb King hands down, was like if
you can't do it like BB King, you're not a

(03:27):
blues singer or musician really so but anyway, the back
to what I was doing, Yeah, the audition, so they
had one hundred foot chord. So they were in one room,
and then I took the chord into the bathroom with
the microphone closed, the door, turned on the water, start singing.

(03:48):
That's how I got in. And then for about a
year you got a sinking company. Well because I would sing,
you know, taking a bathroom, taking a shower. Yeah, yeah,
And I did that whatever, you know. So I got
in the band, and then for about a whole year.
There are a lot of musicians who know me till
this day, and actually a couple of my band members

(04:09):
they know me. They knew I did this. I would
sit behind the band, behind the bass player because he's
a big guy, you know, and I would sit in
a chair face the wall while they faced the audience.
And I did that for a year, really for a year, honest,
I did it for a year. Yep. There are people
who know me who knew me back then and said, yeah,
I remember when you don't do that anymore, No, I don't.

(04:30):
I just tell jokes now, all right.

Speaker 1 (04:33):
So take me back to that that day when they said, hey,
you should try out for this for this band. They
didn't give you any kind of direction saying, hey, maybe
you should learn this song. Were you able to like
sing with songs on the radio? What I couldn't imagine.
Not you know, somebody going, hey, you know what, try

(04:55):
out for a band. We're not going to give you
any details or any songs, but you know, hopefully you
know how to sing and how to you know, join
a band.

Speaker 2 (05:03):
Yep, there you go. Yeah. Well I didn't know either.
But my bass player was a good guy, and the
band was very tight knit, and so the band leader,
big al lovit. He he and Mike were very close.
So whatever Mike brought to the table, you know, he
was okay with it. He figured, okay, person must be good.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
Well you must have done pretty well considering they put
you in the band, even though you were hiding behind
the you know, you had to be in a bathroom
with you know, next thing you opened up the bathroom,
she's naked.

Speaker 3 (05:38):
Yah, I know, I know, yeah, and you know it
just I was shocked and happy all in one because
I'm like, wow, okay, now what I'm supposed to do
because I've never done that before, never been in a band,
sang in a church choir, but never have to be

(05:58):
the front person.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
So your front person is actually acting as a back
person for a whole year.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
She's hiding behind the base layer I am, and it's like,
where's that voice coming from?

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Well? Actually, and that's what happened. So after that, my mentor,
big al, he said, people want to hear you, and
I'm like, well, they can hear me. He said, that's
not what I mean. They know there's that voice, but
where is that person? What are they doing? Are they you? Yeah,
so they wanted to see me. So I had to
do that. And he was a psychologist, so it was

(06:30):
kind of interesting. I said, so how do I get
over this? And he's like, well, I could tell you scenario.
Pretend everybody's naked, he said, but that's not going to work.
I said no, because I'll be laughing through the whole
like you know whatever said he said, you just have
to figure it out for yourself. So for years I
was scared to death. So I started telling jokes. You know,

(06:52):
nothing real bad, but it would make people laugh. And
that made me comfortable because in school, forgive me, mom,
I'm getting ready to You probably knew this. I was
a jokes. I was a prankster in high school, middle school,
I was and so I made people laugh. Maybe that's
what I should have did if they're.

Speaker 4 (07:09):
Singing, well, I don't think so.

Speaker 1 (07:13):
But see, that was something that was that level of
comfort is you know, you were used to cutting up
in front of people, and so at least you had
that to kind of rely on, saying well, I'm not
really comfortable with this music setting. You obviously had some
sort of talent. I mean, how do you just pull

(07:33):
somebody you know who doesn't doesn't sing or doesn't have
the performances.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah. I never took a vocal lesson in my life
up until when COVID started. And the only reason why
I did that. I needed to know the mechanics behind singing,
like right now, like if I knew it, there's this
world classic You're like, I really don't know how to sing.

(08:02):
You teach somebody like that, Like I don't want to
learn how to sing. You belt out and you're like,
what I know. I love him. I'm gonna take him
on the road. But it was kind of interesting because
people were very shocked. I said, yeah, I never did
a lesson in my life. What I would do was
watch singers like live because you know, way back then
we didn't have YouTube, and it was just like, okay,

(08:24):
well I'm still not getting it. So when COVID hit,
there was a lady here in Pittsburgh, Beth Class, and
she's a nurse. And I should know this as a
nurse working with head and neck cancer patients years ago.
How you know the mechanics work? But I didn't, And
so she taught me the mechanics. I needed to breathe better,

(08:45):
watch my breathing, protect my voice. There's little things that
I did not know that I could do. Then there's
a lady up at a church in Brackenridge, Evy Trinity
United Methodists. She I sang for their church one day
and she approached me. She said, you're a soprano. Well
I cringe when people tell me that.

Speaker 1 (09:03):
I'm like, no, I'm not.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
I'm not a soprano, but I am. And I said,
how do you know? She said, I can tell by
your bone structure, in the way you're carrying yourself. Yeah.
So apparently she was a music teacher director at one time,
but now she still is the church organist pianist, and
I took a couple lessons. She told me about the
angel wings. So instead of like even when I'm talking

(09:26):
it's then a hunching over, you know, put your shoulders back, relax,
And she said, a lot of people you see up
on stage, they're dancing, she said, but that kind of
takes a lot out of you, no matter how fit
you are. So she told me, if you really have
to dance, that's great, she said, but if you don't,
you can do things. You know, your whole body and still,

(09:48):
you know, belt out what you have to do. And
so she taught me that. And when I'm sitting, I
actually feel I sing better when I sit, but apparently
I don't from what I'm here. And so she taught
me that a lot. And I didn't know all this.
And the breathing, like I will, I can hold and
bend notes. Now you know, I can like hold a

(10:10):
note for very long. And when I say very long,
I'm talking about twenty to thirty seconds. Oh wow. And
it's because of the breathing, my angel wings and just
stand there and you know, pretend the mic is not there.
I'm singing acappella. You know. So you have little mind
trick that you yes, exactly, yeah, so and it's helped.

(10:33):
So I've been practicing this, now what for three years
and I'm so much better. I'm not horse the next day.
You know, I'm not like, oh my god, my throat
hurts it. I have none of that anymore. Oh and
I drink warm water. I've heard that warm Yeah I
do too, I do too. Yeah, now I'll drink cold water,
like when I'm not singing or anything, or you know,

(10:53):
don't have to give a speech or anything. But yeah,
there's little tricks that I've learned, like don't do dairy
products day if you're going to sing, because milk has
a tendency to and I know this as a nurse
to build up the phlem And don't eat at least
two or three hours before you get because who wants
to be hearing people burp? Like, hey, I can have
a perfect contest if one you know, let's do this.

(11:16):
But yeah, and I found this has helped so much.

Speaker 1 (11:19):
Yeah, well I kind of would like to see you
burp the blues.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
I think I gotta go. Anybody and you want to
sing it is I know? Oh yeah, I could hear
my band Mason. Now, okay, so you're gonna burp something
really really?

Speaker 1 (11:41):
So did you come from a musical family? I mean
you mentioned that your mom like blues, your dad like country,
and but either.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
One of them did anything musical that I know. But
I have cousins that were singers, cousins that played instruments.
So I'm thinking on both sides to my family, people
that have sang in church choirs growing up. So I'm
thinking that's where I got it from, from either side.
And I heard a rumor and I have to ask

(12:09):
my one cousin. He's got a gorgeous voice, but he
won't sing in a band. He does the karaoke thing
and he gets hired for it. I say, really, I'm like, okay,
i'd need that band, and like, you know, bring it down,
bring it up, do what do or you know, whatever
we have to do. But I had heard growing up
that we, somehow through my father were related to the Cadillacs.

(12:29):
Oh now that's what I heard. Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 4 (12:33):
Might be able to confirm.

Speaker 2 (12:34):
He might be able to because he's older than me,
so he'll probably be able to confirm that. But yeah,
that's where the musical.

Speaker 1 (12:40):
What was the first record you bought?

Speaker 2 (12:43):
Oh my mom, she let me see. Oh what was
I listening to? Oh gosh, I don't remember. Hold on
I'm telling my age. Wait in a minute, let me
think about that for a second. It was something from
the Temptations. Yeah, I remember that because my mom actually

(13:06):
bought me an album, the Temptations album Papa was a
Rolling Stone, So that was the one that I really
liked growing up, you know. So yeah, whenever that first
album was, that's yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
And the music that you were listening to, you know,
from your family, you know that they played the blues
and and.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
My dad wad country. Sorry are you country people out there?
I do do some country. I love it.

Speaker 1 (13:30):
Were you doing that? What kind of radio were you
listening to? What did you listen to?

Speaker 2 (13:35):
Us? Whamoyeah growing up? Who porky check with? Oh Man?
I loved it and that's what I listened to. That's
that's all I listened to was wo.

Speaker 1 (13:48):
And that's that's such a different which is amazing music,
which is amazing music, but it's it's different than what
you're known for. That's that's what's surprising. So you had this,
you know, a diverse music background, and then all of
a sudden, a bass player boyfriend says, you know, here's

(14:10):
you singing. What year was that again?

Speaker 2 (14:15):
Six? Which was oddly specific.

Speaker 1 (14:17):
It was like, you know, May fourth, nineteen ninety six
and three four pm.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
Actually it was October, which is not interesting. October in
ninety six. I'll never forget that. And you know it
wasn't near Christmas because people asked me to day, well,
what were you doing singing Solid Night? I said, because
my kids loved Solid Night, you know, they would hear
it in church. And I said, okay, while singing. And
I did that with my oldest when he was little.

Speaker 1 (14:42):
So yeah, and then do you remember the first actual
song that you sang with that band? What was what
was the band's name? Did it have an name?

Speaker 2 (14:53):
Oh, Blues Music Works or BMW? And I have the
tattoo to prove it. Really, yeah, my first band.

Speaker 1 (14:59):
And so tell me what was that like? As somebody
who's a novice to the music industry, and then all
of a sudden you have these band members who have
been playing music for a long long time. Now, I
see if I were, if somebody would play music a lot,
and then all of a sudden, I see somebody who's.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
You know, just singing Silent Night, and suddenly she's the front.
There was going on here.

Speaker 1 (15:25):
It has to be something that you know from heaven,
that that that that that comes down. Am I wrong?

Speaker 2 (15:31):
No, You're not wrong. I always felt in my heart
that I was supposed to do more than what I
was doing a mom and a nurse, but I didn't
know what that was. And when that happened, probably years later,
I looked back, like all the trials and tribulations I
went through as a singer, and I said, Okay, this

(15:52):
is what I'm supposed to do. This is it? Because
there was nothing else in life that I wanted to do.
Just go to work, I'm home, be with the family,
do whatever I have to do with the family, call
it a day. But I said, now there's something much more.
So that was it, you know, divine intervention, absolutely, because
with my faith. Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (16:12):
And so you're with this band for a year. They
they're putting up with you sitting behind the vandwire, yes,
running water for whatever reason. So they obviously saw some
sort of talent in you.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
Yes, Big Al did. He was our band leader, played keyboard.
He was really into blues, like that's all he wanted
to do was blues, which was cool, and you know
he told me to go listen. I had never heard
of her Cocoa Taylor. Never heard of Coco Taylor heard
of like other people. Sarah Von eded James. But he

(16:50):
told me to go listen to co Coo Taylor because
he said, you sound like Coco Taylor.

Speaker 1 (16:54):
Well, see to me. I hear Eda James in your
and you know that's rare error when you're talking about
Coco and Eda, we're talking rare error.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
Yeah, it's And so I attribute the fact of my
blues influence by big Al Coco Taylor and then Eda James.
And I love Billie Holiday because she had that voice.
Because there is a song on my first album that
I'm actually getting ready to redo that it's a Billie

(17:30):
Holiday pheel and I like that. And I know Eda
did like that. That's why I loved One at Last.
I've done that acapella at Last. That's a hard song
to do. And so, but when it came to Coco Taylor,
she commanded the stage like she had this grit. And
my mom didn't know about Coco Taylor. I introduced her

(17:52):
to him. She's like, who's that. I said, that's Coco Taylor.
Her and BB King are friends. I had to hurry
up and see Gay and turned my mom on it
and my mom said she can sing blues. I said,
I know, I said I know. I said that's why, Mom.
Besides you and big Al Cocoa Tailor.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
So did Big Al kind of introduce you to some
of these, say, hey, listen to this.

Speaker 2 (18:17):
This is going to Cocoa Taylor. Yeah, because I already
knew of Edam, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaugh, Big Mama, Thornton,
But Coco Taylor I did not know of. And I
went and, you know, found some stuff off her, and
I'm like, I was loving it. I absolutely love it.
I said, I want to be her when I grow up.

Speaker 1 (18:35):
So yeah, and then how what happened to that band?

Speaker 2 (18:41):
So probably about two thousand and two, two thousand and three,
I left to strike out on my own. Big Al
had always encouraged me. He says, one day you're gonna
you know, you're gonna have to go out on your own.
Do what you have to do. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:55):
So when you were performing with the band, did you
when you finally came out from behind the bass player?

Speaker 2 (19:03):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (19:03):
Yeah, When did you start becoming more comfortable on stage
and performing? And what was that? What was that evolution? Like?

Speaker 2 (19:10):
For do you want me to be honest. When I
got comfortable, No, I don't want you to be I
don't want to be Miss Freddy live to me, I'm
gonna be honest. It was years later. It was two
thousand and.

Speaker 1 (19:24):
Eight October fifth.

Speaker 2 (19:29):
I don't remember the month of the Blues compet It
was the Blues Competition in West Virginia in Fairmont, and
I had my own band, Blue Face. We got out
there and compete, and I told it and first of all,
was the only female out of all those bands. There
were no other female performers. What's I said, here we go,
here we go.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
So it took twelve years for you to find That's.

Speaker 2 (19:52):
When I felt comfortable. Yep, I felt comfortable because we won.
We won for the state of West Virginia represented him
two thousand and nine in Memphis for the International Blues Competition.
That's when I felt comfortable. I said, I have to
get out to shell somehow, and I figured out how
to do that. But yeah, it took that long.

Speaker 1 (20:15):
Did it take the fact that you wanted to get
the validation?

Speaker 2 (20:21):
The validation It started two thousand and eight and it
kept going on and on and on, and other things.
Opportunities Awards. Yeah, yeah, I have. And I didn't know
what to do, Like I didn't have the business mindset.
All I had was the mindset was like, come up
with the music, get out there, perform, go home, call
it a day. But it was much more than that.

(20:43):
I had to market myself. So I had to figure
that out how to do that, and there were a
lot of people along the way that helped me do that.

Speaker 1 (20:50):
When did Miss Freddy come out? When what Let's.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
See, let me think about this for a minute. I
want to say probably twenty twelve. That was the year
I was dating a guy who he was dying. And
my guitar player currently in the blues band, Greg Casill.

(21:18):
We competed as a duo for the Blue Society, Western
PA's Blue Society as a duo, and I didn't know
if the man that I was dating was that night
was going to be his last night. Because Greg said,
my guitar play. He said, we don't have to do this.
I said, I have to do this. I said, because

(21:39):
if I don't do this, I said, not only the
guy his name was Greg, also, I said, if he dies,
I said, I'm going to be lost, because there's something
in the mix. I have to do this. Something is
telling me just go do it. And so that's when
the me came out. Like that night, I just put

(22:02):
my heart and soul in it and I just said, God,
I need some strength. I don't know what to do
with all this, with him being in the hospital, me singing,
I don't know what to do with all this. And
so it was like somebody was behind me pushing me,
and I felt this overwhelming, like well here I am,
and I just did it and we won and I

(22:26):
got a call he was okay. He ended up living.
So that was April. So he ended up passing away
like a few months later July. But yeah, thank you.
But yeah, So that's when the Miss Freddy really came out,
twenty twelve. She's been going ever since, even though I
kept saying every year, this is the last year. I'm

(22:46):
going to quit singing. I want to do something else.
I did that for like several years, and then I said,
you need to stop doing it. Because every time I
did a gig and people like I saw how the
crowd reacted, how I was interacting, and they liked that.
They like people to be personable. You can't get to
know every single person, because if if you do, let

(23:08):
me know how you do it. And then I just
decided I'm gonna stop saying I'm gonna quit singing after
you know, after the end of each year. I'm just
gonna stop doing it because apparently I'm not supposed to.
So I quit saying it.

Speaker 4 (23:22):
Good.

Speaker 2 (23:23):
Yeah, I stopped saying it several years ago.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
So was the blues phase the next band that.

Speaker 2 (23:29):
You two thousand and two, two thousand and three, yep,
Blue Fays formed that band, and then some of the
band members from BMW yourself Miss Freddy, No, it's just
Blue Fays. Okay, I still Miss Freddy, but the band
name was Blue Fays. And then after several years, the
guys in the band are like, well, you know, people
come and see you. I said, no, they come and

(23:50):
see us. They're like, no, they come and see you.
You're the front person. So then I had to change
it to Miss Freddy and Blue Fays and I'm like, okay,
Blue Faces like so now it's Miss Freddy's Blues band.
And I said, can we just do bluesban and they're like, no,
it's Miss Freddy's bluesman.

Speaker 4 (24:08):
So well, you took ownership of it, you know, and
you should.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
Yeah, they made me dagnab it.

Speaker 1 (24:16):
When did you start recording?

Speaker 2 (24:18):
Oh gee, when I was still in blues music works.
As matter of fact, I was talking to a friend
the other day and I said, remember when we recorded
in New Kensington. That was interesting. It was a recording
studio New I want to say. I think they were
called ghost studios. That could be wrong. And actually the

(24:41):
person still has the yes, people, there is it such
thing as cassettes. He still has the cassette and I'm like, really,
He's like, I just can't find it. So that was
my first recording.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
Was it was an original song or was it the.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
You know what? No, we did covers, but big Al
had a lot of things that he had wrote. And
actually one song that he wrote that's on Near It's
on my second album, so it's pretty cool. I'd like
to redo it, but that's down the road. I've got
too many projects going on. And then the recording just

(25:20):
kept going. I recorded with other bands as a guest
singer on a song. My own recording was twenty ten
at Bone Dog Records in mckysport. That was my first album,
and that was interesting. It was great musicians were patient.
Everybody was patient. The one song what do you mean
by that? What?

Speaker 1 (25:41):
Because this is your first experience, so my first experience
of like recording your own yeah, yeah, And everyone was
super nice, perfect except for me. There was one song
that I did thirty takes. I said, if this last
take doesn't work, I'm done. Don't ask me again. And

(26:03):
they took the last take and it's Habit. And it's
a song that.

Speaker 2 (26:06):
I want to redo, that's going to go on my
one project that I have in mind. It's called Habit.
It's a beautiful song. It's that Billie Holiday Peel drove
me crazy thirty times over and over. There were no
breaks because I didn't want to take a break. Oh
and the thing about that I had strapped throat that day.
I was just recovering and I'm like, oh my God,

(26:27):
help me. So yeah, that's what happened. The second time
was in California at Greeceland Studios through some you know,
a friend of mine. He's originally from Pittsburgh, but he
lives in Colorado now. He introduced me to Kid Anderson
and that was twenty seventeen, and we recorded that full

(26:50):
album in two days two and a half days. No
thirty takes, No thirty takes, thank god? No, no.

Speaker 1 (26:59):
And where do you find your material?

Speaker 2 (27:03):
YouTube? iTunes, where else? Amazon and Spotify?

Speaker 1 (27:10):
Any originals?

Speaker 2 (27:12):
Yeah, there are, there are originals on there. Matter of fact,
there's two singles that are out Let It Burn and
which was released in January this year, and Slipping Away,
which was released last month.

Speaker 1 (27:24):
So when did the When did miss Freddy start writing?

Speaker 2 (27:28):
Miss Freddy started co writing with a friend of mine
that he wrote Slipping Away, Passed Away. I actually wrote
a song old Woman in the Shoe, which I want
to redo. I did that years ago, like twenty ten,
but it's not out, it's not recorded anywhere. I used
to sing it out a lot with both bands, both
of my bands, but I don't do it anymore because

(27:49):
I want to redo it.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
You say that a lot like I'm going to redo this,
and see this. I want to redo.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
This because I listened to how I sounded back then,
and even my guitar player in the blues band, he
said he listened to something that's on YouTube that we
did at the Boston Waterfront. It used to be over thereby,
and he said, oh my god, he said, you are
so different. He said, you should listen to you. I said,

(28:15):
I do listen to myself, and that's why I wanted
to redo a lot like that one song Habit that
I did thirty times. It's the way that I have
refined myself as a vocalist that I want to redo it.
I said, oh, yeah, there's a lot of spin, a
lot of stuff I can do with that.

Speaker 4 (28:32):
Don't you think life experiences changed you too, and you
start singing differently over the years. Yep, you bring a
different experience into it.

Speaker 2 (28:40):
Yeah, absolutely absolutely.

Speaker 1 (28:43):
What's the first song that you either wrote or co
wrote that you recorded and what was that experience? Like
Freight Train Blues.

Speaker 2 (28:52):
My friend Miche Lazanga out of Huntington, West Virginia, he
passed away suddenly a couple of years ago. He sent
the song to me out, this is a pretty cool song.
People are gonna dance.

Speaker 3 (29:03):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
I love freight Train Blues. And I give him mostly
to credit because you know, I have yet to develop
as a bona fide songwriter. I can write poetry, like
right now, I could do a poem with what's going
on with us, But to sit down and to actually
think about writing a song. I'm still developing that. But
freight Train Blues was like one of the first ones.

Speaker 1 (29:27):
Did he write the music in you the words or he.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
Kind of so he sent how the music should go.
But when I went out to California, the way they
did it it was great. So they kind of like
developed the music on how it goes, and it goes perfectly.
You're on a train, it should be one of those
train moving songs. So that's how it you know, that's

(29:54):
how it developed to be.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
So yeah, but tell me what was your contribution.

Speaker 2 (30:01):
My contribution was just well, I told Mike that Micha Lazanga,
the guy that co wrote it, I said, it has
to be about the roots, like my family. Both my
parents are from the South, and so this is a tribute.
So he wrote part of it, you know, there's that

(30:25):
freight train run and just won't let me be, And
I said, yeah, that's perfect. That's like me. I've got
this thing going on in my life. And so freight
train Blues, like we came up with that hook, you know,
freight train blues, Freight train blues, and so my other
contribution to that song is it's got to be a

(30:47):
song you're talking about something in life like the past,
like you know, talk about the pullman, like what grandpa did. Actually,
my grandfather ran moonshine, but he worked. He worked. This
is around the South, but he worked though, but he
was a working man, and so it talks about that,
and I said, I definitely want to make sure my

(31:10):
roots is part of that song. So it is like
what grandpa did? You know? Grandpa wrote to pullman from
Georgia to Bangok, Maine, and so that's my contribution.

Speaker 1 (31:22):
I get the feeling like mss Freddy's still hiding behind
the bass player. When it comes to your writing, you
just won't die.

Speaker 2 (31:31):
I'm really not into the writing right now. I'm more
so into developing the song as a vocalist. And all
of a sudden, out of the woodworks, there's all these
songwriters who are writing songs and they kind of gotten
to know me, so they have my personality. So that's

(31:55):
where I'm at now. Once I retire from nursing, I'll
be able to dedicate myself more to songwriting.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
So do you enjoy the process of writing or is
it is it it's just the creative process that you enjoy.

Speaker 2 (32:11):
I think it's a creative process for me right now,
I really have then gotten into it seriously to enjoy,
you know, the process of songwriting. But I think once
I have downtime, which that'll be never, it won't because
I'm so busy because I have all these ideas musically

(32:32):
what I want to do in life. But I think
that will develop and I will be one of these
serious songwriters because I think it's fascinating. You can take words,
know the personality of the person that's going to bring
your song to life. That's important and I've noticed that
and every I have, Like so there's Mike Sweeney, bass

(32:52):
player at Pittsburgh. He writes for me mostly. And Michae
Lazanga who passed away, he wrote a few songs. There's
another my theme song, Lady of the Blues, a friend
of mine passed away live in West Virginia. They all
knew or knew my personality. And every last song I
sing fits me, every last original song fits me. It's

(33:15):
amazing and I want to be that.

Speaker 1 (33:17):
So, whether it was a big our or some of
your bandmates and they bring you a song, do you
do you internalize it and do you say, hey, how
can I make this miss Freddy.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
Oh yeah, that's that's a good one. So perfect example
is let it Burn. My friend Jesse Landers out of Georgia.
He wrote that and he was actually interviewing me. He
is a podcast. We talked for three hours. Podcast was
don after an hour, and then we just talked, got
the new, his family, his dog, you know what they

(33:51):
did in life. Nice family. And he said I have
a song that I want you to listen to. I said, okay.
It was on YouTube and with me the first note.
It doesn't take the whole song, but the first note.
I said, oh yeah, I'm going to take this and
I listened to it over and over again. I said,
you know, do you mind if I sing this out?

(34:11):
He said, oh, I'd be honored. And so the blues
band does it. And because I love the way to guitar,
I love the way they just put everything together. And
when I first sang it out, people loved it, and
I said, okay, I'm going to develop it more. So
I put me into it. I bend notes. I start
out softly and then I build it up and then

(34:35):
at the end I put my whole Miss Freddy a
little bit of Coco Taylor a little bit of Edda James,
a little bit of Billie Holiday in it and mixed
those all together and it just it's right there. And
so that's me. I put my essence in it, is
what I call it, Miss Freddy's essence. Well.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
One thing that one particular thing that strikes me, as
your say is, and this this is unique, is that
you let songs breathe. There that so many people want
to put ten pounds of shit in a five pound bag.

Speaker 2 (35:15):
Yep, yep, exactly.

Speaker 1 (35:19):
Am I wrong? No, You're not wrong.

Speaker 2 (35:23):
And I've learned that over the years. And even my
bandmates tell me to this day, they're like, take your time, breathe,
give room for everything to happen, the instrumental what you're
about to do. They tell me that till this day
they know me very well. And you know, I take

(35:44):
that you know very very well because I'm like, they
know me, and so you're absolutely right. Without that. Say,
for example, there's one song that I that I do,
Miss Freddy's going to Fix you Up Fine. Mike Sween
wrote that I love that and I used to like
bam bam bam bam bamm. Well, you can't do that.
You cannot do that. Song like that, because one, people

(36:07):
want to hear what you're saying. People want to grasp
what you're saying. People want to take that and say,
you know that song that you sing about you're going
to take care of somebody and you know, stick with
you morning, noon and night. I said, oh, it's Freddy,
fix your fine. Yeah, that's how I know people are
paying attention. So that's where that comes from.

Speaker 1 (36:27):
And I mean this with all the love. You're a seductress.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
How do you know? You know why? Because I figured
out years ago my job as a front person is
to notice my audience. I don't care if there's two
people in the audience versus thousands, hundreds to thousands, and

(36:54):
I will look at people individually. Somebody may just be
sitting you think is a bump on a log, but
they probably got their finger tapping. Somebody's probably smiling, somebody's
probably tapping her foot. People get up and dance. A
lot of the love songs that I do, and there's

(37:16):
one that I cover by I love Chris Stableman that
I cover by Chris. Actually I cover a couple of songs,
but there's one love song that I cover. I put
my heart into it. Because I can relate to that
song personally. But I have met people who have had
relationship issues and that's one song that I just you

(37:38):
should hear it.

Speaker 1 (37:39):
With it.

Speaker 2 (37:39):
With the song Cold Cold, I absolutely, hands down I
love that because it talks about a series of things.
You've got this person who loves you, but you know
that person's hard is shattered, and it's like, I've done
all of this with you for you, but now look
where we're at. You know I still have all this

(38:02):
love for you. So yeah, you're right, I am, but
I do it to make sure people are taken care
of spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and also physically because people will
get up and dance or all of a sudden, those
endorphins they like, you know, if you're having some kind
of pain physically, it goes away for the moment. So yeah,

(38:24):
you're you're absolutely right in a good way.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
Yeah, I e forgot I'd like to be seduced to.
So what it was it like to be a female
in a band? Is it good and bad things?

Speaker 2 (38:42):
And you're the only female one I'm still the only
female dang man. At first, when I joined my first band,
I didn't think about that because I was so busy
trying to find myself as a singer. But as years
went on and I finally formed my own And it's
tough because you have to command the respect of your

(39:05):
bandmates without acting like some kind of you know.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
And let's face it, pitts well and Pittsburgh has h
you know what, Porky. He brought rhythm and blues the
Pittsburgh and then you know Pittsburgh is There's been a
lot of blues bands, though really good ones.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
Mm hmmm mm hmm. Yeah. Yeah, but it's hard being
the manager. Okay, guys, I'm putting you on the spot.
So every year I ask both bands who I wants
to be the band leader? The manager, booking the gigs,
collecting the money, finding the songs for the singer to sing.
Nobody wants to do it. It's very tedious and it's time consuming.

(39:44):
So I do it for both bands and I love
doing it now because it was driving me crazy at first,
but then I figured out what I was supposed to do.
But it's still very hard. It took years to have
my guys respect me as a band leader and look
beyond the fact that I'm a woman. That's very hard

(40:05):
for and not bashing you men, I love you, but
it's very hard for guys to do that, even in
like healthcare and whatever. And I figured out, if I'm
going to have respect as this female singer, I've got
to show respect no matter what the situation is. And
that goes for like other musicians, you know, surrounding areas, regional,

(40:29):
I met nationally. I have to be I have to
be the woman quote unquote, but at the same time
be mine, my p's and q's. But at the same time, hey,
I'm the boss of my bands. Because what was funny

(40:51):
when it came time to pay the band, Like back
in the day, and I'm talking about when I first
for my band, they would go to the guys, oh no,
oh yeah, I go, here's your pay. I didn't say
anything until one day one of my bandmates and the
bluesman said, oh no, she's the boss, you pay her.
And so now that's how it's been fast forward up

(41:12):
until like this day. Well, you have to be Pittsburgh's
Lady of the blues.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
But you also have to be the man.

Speaker 2 (41:20):
Well, I guess, but.

Speaker 1 (41:27):
Your vocal ability is your instrument. And when you have
such a developed instrument that commands a lot of respect though.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
Yeah, yeah, so there's yeah, you're right, you.

Speaker 1 (41:40):
Have a little ace in your pocket there.

Speaker 2 (41:42):
Yeah. And I try to stay level headed with that,
you know. I try not to be this diva, you know.
I like them all that in the bag of chips
because I said, at the moment I started acting like that,
God's gonna take away all it is and I'm like,
oh no, I'll be so devastated. I try to stay grounded.
It is important because if I stay grounded, I can

(42:04):
be more focused in a positive sense, if that makes
sense at all.

Speaker 1 (42:09):
All right, we talked a little bit about a blues phase, okay,
and we talked a little bit about the recording. I'd
like to pick up there. Okay, So continue your narrative
after so, blues phase, how long did that lasted till? When?

Speaker 2 (42:24):
So, let me see, blue phase last until about two
thousand and eight, and I think after two thousand and nine,
after we came back from Memphis. That's when the guys
are like, you, you might want to change it because
people come out and see you, you know, make it
miss Freddie's ban or whatever. So we decided Miss Freddy's

(42:47):
Blues ban because they said it's important. Yeah, they're like,
but you may not always have the same players, which
that drives me. No, I have to have the same players.
Unless something happens to one of the guys, they can't
do a show. So with that said, that's stuck a
lot of people. They tried to, you know, go back
to the blue face. I said, no, it's not that anymore,

(43:09):
you know, and I explain why, and so so this
day's mss Freddy's Blues Ban. But I also have the
home Coool conveniend man. I have, actually I have five
acts that I manage. And people are like, are you kidding.
I'm like, no, I'm not kidding. I said, it's actually
quite easy, and I actually want to be a booking
agent when I grow up. And I had put that

(43:34):
on social media a few years back. And you have
no idea the bands the acts that are like, can
you be my booking agent? I'm like, I can't. I
work full time, I have a family and I have
my accent. I have to manage in books.

Speaker 1 (43:47):
So yeah, well thank you for coming in, because that
doesn't sound like you have an hour to spare. I'm
fortunate for that. So when and you've always been to
this industrious and when it when it comes to your bands,
you know, how often do you work on your craft?
Do you how often do you write? How often do

(44:08):
you practice? How often do you.

Speaker 2 (44:13):
Do everything? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (44:15):
Where do you find time to do all that?

Speaker 2 (44:18):
It's not easy? But so I work full time as
a nurse and rehearsal days, so I have to go
buy it.

Speaker 1 (44:26):
There's no pressure, such an easy there's no stress in
that job.

Speaker 2 (44:35):
So I have to go according to my schedule. Because
if you try to manage eight other people's schedule, it's
a nightmare. So I go by my schedule. So to
blues band, we rehearse on Wednesdays. The Home Cooking band
either Monday or Tuesdays, based on you know, their schedules.

(44:56):
And that's fine. I pretty much much practice every day.
You should see me at work, like a couple of
my coworkers like, oh, are we gonna do that song
again today? I'm like, what song? I'm in my office
the door was pulled up. How do you like? Because
you're always in there, you know. So I try to
practice on my own, like a certain song or songs

(45:17):
that I need to do every day, and I used
to do an hour, but I don't do that anymore
because I do it every day, so about thirty minutes,
because I want to give my voice a chance to
like take a break, because ninety percent of my job
as a nurse is talking on the phone, so I
have to be careful. Songwriting I don't do. I hope

(45:40):
to do it when I retire from nursing, so we'll see.
And the other part of this booking gigs and all that,
that's every day thing, every single day. How often do
you perform every weekend?

Speaker 1 (45:54):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (45:55):
Actually every week it depends, Like tonight, I have, you know, gig,
but it's every weekend. I have now learned to take
off two weekends. So my busy times of the year
are from April to about November. It's every weekend, and
I'll have like two weekends off.

Speaker 1 (46:16):
Oh, you're taking five weeks five months off.

Speaker 2 (46:19):
Oh, I know, slack, I am. I am.

Speaker 1 (46:23):
Well. You talked about, you know, performing in West Virginia
and Memphis. Well, when you're performing in Memphis blues in Memphis,
you better be good.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
Yeah, you have to be extremely good because there are
people who have been in the blues business for years
and there's certain things that they look at, you know, Kully,
especially when you're doing that International Blues Challenge, They're looking
at your stage presence, you know, not only your vocals,
but how well you in the band, that chemistry is going,

(46:56):
you know, So that's what they look at. And in
your originality do you bring to the table, and that's
very important definitely, And how do you connect with your
audience that's the other thing, you know. Like I tease
my drummer Sean, he's got more peeps than I do.
We did a gig not too long ago, and you know,

(47:19):
I love having fun and involving the audience and my bandmates.
I said, so, you know how many peeps are out there?
So I'll go around each band memory you know, you'll
hear the claps. But when it came to my drummer,
like all of a sudden, it was like there was
a thousand people and I I said, dude, I said, okay,
wait a minute, So how many peeps do I have
out there? Here was some clapping, Yeah, I said, okay,

(47:40):
my drummer. So I like doing things like that. People
appreciate the fact that a you recognize your bandmates, you
got something going and B you recognize them. They absolutely
love that.

Speaker 1 (47:53):
So you've played with the same band for a long time.

Speaker 2 (47:57):
One thousand years.

Speaker 1 (48:00):
What is the chemistry.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
I think the chemistry is. Yeah, we argue, it's not
bad arguments, but the chemistry is the fact that A
I respect those guys because they have more experience than
I do. They've been doing this longer than I have.
B it's the fact that they may find some music

(48:24):
or I find something and it's like, you know, oh, guys,
I think this would fit us because the way we
are and that's our chemistry. And on stage, they know
me like a book. They're like, Okay, it's coming, you know,
because I could hear them in the background, it's like
get ready because she's doing this. It's like, oh, she's changing.

(48:46):
Or I may say something like you know, I was
gonna do this, but I'm gonna do this, and I
could see their eyes. I could just feel it, their
eyes rolling up in the air. I'm like, yeah, you
on it. But that's what I mean. And it's about respect.
We respect each other and that goes for both in
my bands. We respect each other immensely. So I know
them and they know me, and that's important because you've

(49:07):
got to know your bandmates. And I'm not talking about
the personal life and all that. I'm talking about the
personality of music. You know, do they like what's going on?
Do you share the same things as far as the
kind of music you're doing and how you're doing it?
And that's important. And if you're the front person, like

(49:29):
are you going to involve your bandmates? You know what
I mean when you're performing, because I have seen some
acts and it doesn't matter if it's local, regional, it's
the front person that nobody's involving. They're not interacting with
each other. Sometimes it's okay, sometimes it's not because your
audience wants to know are you personable? Are you approach

(49:50):
can you be approachable?

Speaker 1 (49:51):
Well, when I mentioned letting a song breathe, yeah, you're
allowing those bandmates to shine a little bit. And you
have a a telepathy you have you don't even have
to say anything.

Speaker 2 (50:03):
Yeah, yeah, you're right, you're right, You're absolutely right. I
don't have to say anything because they can tell in
the song, Like if I'm doing a slow song, they
know it's coming. Here, it comes. We're getting ready to
build up to you know, this climax and they're right
there with me. I don't have to say a word.
And then there are a couple songs like my drummer,

(50:25):
he's right there in a pocket and I'm like, are
you ready? And so sometimes I won't say that. Sometimes
I'll put my hand up or you know, I'm doing,
you know, waving my hands in the air like I
don't care. Sometimes I don't you all didn't hear that,
because it's gotten that good and he knows. And so
it's little signals that are so important that my guys,

(50:49):
both bands, they pick up, you know, because they'll make
comments like after we're done at rehearsal, it's like, oh, yeah,
I knew that was coming. I'm like, sure you did.
They're like, no, no, no, you I knew it was coming.
And that's what I really love about my guys.

Speaker 1 (51:04):
Have you ever had a perfect set?

Speaker 2 (51:08):
Well, you mean me singing and play hmm, let me see,
Actually I have. I've had a perfect set a few
times throughout my years. And how I would call it
a perfect set is when people get up on your
first song and start dancing and dancing the rest of

(51:28):
the night. They might be a little tired, they'll take
a break, but yeah, that's a perfect set to me.
And another way of saying it is my guys, especially
my oh my guys, but especially the guitar players in
both bands. It'll be like, oh man, you know your
voice was great, you know, like I was on fire

(51:50):
or something. I said, Well, it's important, guys, because I
feel really really great, you know, this evening or today
or whatever. I've had a good day. So yeah, a
few times.

Speaker 1 (52:02):
You know, you have a good night and bad nights, yep,
but there's every once in a while it just becomes
a magical night.

Speaker 2 (52:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (52:10):
It almost rejuvenates you. It's like you get off stage,
You're like that night was special.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, that's why when I was saying before
I you know, i'd been saying for years, Okay, this
will be my last year. I'll be done. But then
it's always something at a show that it rejuvenates me,
and I'm like, I'm not going anywhere. I might as
well just stop this right now.

Speaker 1 (52:33):
Have you caught that magic in the recording sessions after.

Speaker 2 (52:38):
About twenty Towns twenty thirty? Actually yes, and especially when
I recorded the last two singles. Absolutely it's there, and hey,
I've gone down to four or five times as far
as doing something over versus thirty. And the reason why
I say that because the songs hit me. You know,

(53:01):
there's something about the songs that I absolutely have fallen
in love with. So it's right there, it's right in
the pocket. And thank God for the engineer. He's really good.
Hollis Greathhouse and oh, he's absolutely wonderful, and he is taken.
He's like, well, let's do another take. And he said,

(53:21):
you know, I could take like this part, this part
and that part. I said, oh yeah, And he did
that and he could tell. He's like, oh yeah, it
was a really good take. He said, you know, but
let me look at let me listen to the other ones.
And so every time I am more and more comfortable
in the studio. When I grew up, I just want
to be a session singer.

Speaker 1 (53:42):
Who would you sing? Who would you like to sing with?

Speaker 2 (53:44):
Oh? I get asked that all the time. If I
had my choice a live or dead love? Oh, thank you,
I was going to ask Cocoa tailor, hands down, hands down,
I would love to have done show with her. Alive
would be Tap Benoit or Chris Stapleton. I love tappin

(54:07):
why I got a chance to meet and talk with him.

Speaker 1 (54:09):
People don't know Chris Stapleton, you know. They think of
him as a country star, and he is as good
as they get. But he is.

Speaker 2 (54:15):
He is so diverse, Yes, he is. He is diverse blues,
He's done R and B, soul, country. I mean, he's
he's all our alternative. He's all over the map. But
I like singing with him, or I would love to
sing with him because the songwriting, it's so personable. And

(54:37):
I don't know if people realize that about him, because
he and his wife correct and like I said, I
do cold and I absolutely, hands down loved it. People
love Tennessee whiskey too, which is so he did not
write right, He did not write it. He did not
know his biggest song, the song that he is most

(54:58):
known for, Tennessee was and he has written for so
many people, Yes he has. And the one song that
he's known for he didn't right.

Speaker 1 (55:07):
Yeah, but he owns that song.

Speaker 2 (55:11):
Okay.

Speaker 1 (55:12):
You know when you when you hear vocally, yeah.

Speaker 2 (55:14):
Yeah, yeah, he does. When I heard it, uh, somebody
was singing a musician I knew some years ago, and
I said, that's a cool song. I want to learn that,
and so you would be I sing it you, I
sing it with both bands. You know. It's interesting though.
I also kind of combine it with an Edda James

(55:35):
I do. I'd rather go you have that recorded somewhere now,
why because I haven't thought about that.

Speaker 3 (55:46):
It look yeah, I see that like a blues version
of that.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
Are you kidding me? Yeah? Okay, I will think about that.
I will. I will give it some serious signs because
I already do them both together out with both bands.
So yeah, okay, and.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
Yeah, well you send it to me. Please?

Speaker 2 (56:13):
What am I doing next time? You performing it? And
record it and send it to me. You're not getting
out of the studio, Okay, I will, I'll do it.
You're lying, you're lying, no, but seriously, I'll do it,
all right, Yeah, I'll do it.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
That's your next project project, you said you there's so
many things you want to do. You've got two bands,
you're booking, You're you're eventually going to retire nursing. But
you keep saying that, but you know.

Speaker 2 (56:45):
Yeah, that'll be at some point in my life. But
what else?

Speaker 1 (56:48):
What else do you want to conquer?

Speaker 2 (56:54):
Getting my projects. Well, actually they're in the works now.
I'm gonna ready record blues tune. Yeah, it's an original.
It's off my first album, redoing it again. I love it.
It's called pink Lemonade, and I want to release it
October tenth, that's my youngest son's birthday. In October's Breast

(57:14):
cancer Awareness month because I'm breast cancer survivor twice. And
while I'm doing that, I have come up with one
a love sonnet album, all original on it. Oh yeah,
and I want to have that release Valentine's Day of
next year.

Speaker 4 (57:32):
Oh wow.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
And gospel people have been chomping at the bit for
me to do gospel. So I'm going to do a
gospel album and I hope, I'm praying I can release
it my birthday June second of next year.

Speaker 4 (57:49):
Oh you want three releases out within a calendar one year,
twelve months?

Speaker 2 (57:54):
Geez? Ready, Well, I got the two singles out and
then there's a blues and roots album out of gig
Master Studio that it's just about done. Just need a
couple instrumental parts on it and hopefully it can be
released in the fall sometime, all original music on it.

(58:15):
So yeah, that's what I want to conquer when I
grow up in.

Speaker 1 (58:21):
Slacker. I know you talked about country, country blues. You know,
when Beyonce came out with a country album, people damn
near lost their minds. And she's reminding people that black
artists started country, right And so you talked about your

(58:43):
father enjoying country.

Speaker 2 (58:45):
Oh my god, Yeah, there's nothing wrong with it because
now that I've grown up and I've embraced music because
I listened to When I tell people what I listen to,
they have the deer in headlight log, what what do
you listen to? I do listen to country, okay, and
I do have my favorite country artists, but I also

(59:06):
listened to classical piano, I listen to while soul and
R and B, hip hop, rap, alternative, and I listened
to some pop, also blues, jazz. I'm all over to
map because I listen to those depending upon my mood. Now,

(59:26):
if I'm at work and i just want to, like,
you know, feel happy or something, I'll play something upbeat
at least half the day, and if my day is
winding down, then I'll go, like, you know, play some
like love songs or something. You know, if I'm frustrated.
I'll just go play some jazz. So I'm all over

(59:47):
to Map with music.

Speaker 1 (59:50):
If you hadn't sung Silent Night to your son, do
you still think you would have music?

Speaker 2 (59:56):
I don't think I would be in music till this day.
I don't know how it would have happened if it
wasn't for that day, but I honestly I don't think
I would have I think I probably would have joined
a choir and then just you know, call it a day.
So yeah, so I have to thank Mike Thompson for that.

(01:00:20):
Big Mike, good guy.

Speaker 1 (01:00:22):
Big Mike, big ol.

Speaker 2 (01:00:24):
Right there are.

Speaker 1 (01:00:28):
What is miss Freddie's legacy.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
My legacy is to leave behind to my kids, the
rest of my family, and to my fans what I
have done accomplished in my life as a nurse and
as a musician. And I want people you don't have

(01:00:52):
to copy me, but I want you to build your
own but just kind of take you know, take my
lead and just run with your own lead. That that's
my legacy.

Speaker 1 (01:01:06):
It's funny that you mentioned your family in nursing before
you mentioned singing.

Speaker 4 (01:01:12):
I noticed that.

Speaker 2 (01:01:13):
Yes, yeah, that's interesting. You noticed that because I usually
say that a lot in that order, because there are
I have noticed something. If it was not for my family,
I would not be able to do this. If it
was not for my family, I would not have been

(01:01:34):
able to be a nurse. It takes patience because I'm
a very busy person. My mom used to get on
me a lot. You're too busy. You're working, you have kids,
You're doing the music. My mom thought maybe I should
either back off the music a little bit or give
it up, and I was very stubborn. Did I regret

(01:01:57):
that I used to because I'm like, well, maybe my
mom is seeing something that I'm not seeing, or maybe
I don't know how to prioritize. Well, I had a
few things that have taught me I better prioritize because
I only get one life on this earth.

Speaker 1 (01:02:13):
Well, you must be very proud of of your family
of being a nurse, yeah, and a musician and a
survivor cancer.

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
Yes. Yeah. That actually put me in perspective with a
lot of things. Taking care of cancer, patience as a
bedside nurse and then ending up with it, that was
a That was an eye opener. You never know how
people feel when they are diagnosed with the big sea

(01:02:44):
doesn't matter what kind of cancer, because the first thing
I don't know about anybody else on this earth, but
the first thing came in my mind, how bad is
and how long do I have to live? I cried
for twenty four hours straight straight. My first diagnosis, the
second diagnosis, I knew it came back. Told my surgeon.
He's like, eh Na, Sid, it's back. I already you know.
And biopsy me on a Wednesday, came back Friday. When

(01:03:06):
do you want to have surgery? Oh? I already took
off next week. What's your schedule like? And did it
that following week. So it coming back twice. Having had
cancer on both sides of my family, it runs rampant.
It's like it's knocking at everybody's door. I had to
really put in perspective what is so important to me

(01:03:28):
right now? Because I don't know how long I'm going
to be on this earth.

Speaker 1 (01:03:31):
I don't well, just listening to your your music, You're
a force of nature. If I was cancer, i'd be
scared the hell out of you.

Speaker 3 (01:03:41):
I'm with her.

Speaker 2 (01:03:43):
I don't know what I'm doing.

Speaker 1 (01:03:46):
This has been an absolute pleasure.

Speaker 2 (01:03:47):
Thanks, thank you, Oh, thank you. Oh You're welcome. Thank
you for having me. I appreciate you, and I appreciate
what you all do and what you continue to do.
That's a blessing. You're welcome,