Freddie Waters - I'm Afraid To Let You Into My Life

A gorgeous piece of Nashville soul from one of the cities finest singers. His first recordings were as a member of The Hytones - that sounds like him on the lead of "Bigger And Better" - in the 60s before he fetched up at Ref-O-Ree with Ted Jarrett. He recorded a couple of duets with Eddie Frierson, as Freddie & Eddie, then continued as a solo singer, releasing a string of excellent records which showcased his lovely pleading tenor voice. He had some regional success, and came to the attention of Stax who released the lovely "Groovin' On My Baby's Love" not long before they went bust in 1975. October was yet another Ted Jarrett label, and this track is my favourite of all of Freddie's songs. The arrangement is first class, and Freddie never sounded better, with an intensity that was rarely there before. An album was released - "Just Enough To Get Me Cool" - which would be issued in the UK in the mid-80s by Move Records, but Freddie seemed to get lost in the disco boom. Skip forward about 20 years to 2000, and there were rumours that Freddie Waters was recording again. Not only that, but he was booked to appear at the annual Blues Estafette festival in Utrecht in the Netherlands. Tragically, not long after the new sessions and just as his career was about to get started again, Freddie died. The new recordings were released as a CD called "One Step Closer To The Blues" and came out just in time for the Estafette in late 2000, and there was also a compilation of Ref-O-Ree and October tracks released soon after under the title "Singing A New Song" which includes this little beauty.