When local blues guitar icon Little Freddie King rolled onto the Blues Tent stage in a throne-like wheelchair during the 2026 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, many fans thought that might be their last chance to see him perform.
A series of accidents and ailments had left him unable to walk or play guitar. His team and Jazz Fest staffers went to great lengths to make the Blues Tent show possible.
But if all goes according to plan, King will make another rare onstage appearance for his 86th birthday party on Saturday, July 18 at BJ’s Lounge, his unofficial Bywater headquarters at 4301 Burgundy St.
The Leopard Hounds open the show at 9 p.m. After a break, King is slated for an hour-long set. As he did during Jazz Fest, he'll sing from his wheelchair and leave the guitar-playing to others. Cake will be cut after his set.
Beyond the birthday, King will celebrate being able to perform at all.
In September, his new electric bicycle bucked and threw him. He landed hard. When “Wacko” Wade Wright, his drummer and manager for three decades, arrived, he found King stretched out on the sidewalk, unable to stand.
Spinal compression had damaged King’s nerves. He had no strength in his legs, and his hands were numb. He spent 40 days at a rehabilitation center and another 20 at a nursing facility learning to use a rolling walker.
Back home, he fell while using the walker. After that, he was confined to a wheelchair.
Wright canceled the next seven months of upcoming shows. They’d focus on building up his strength for Jazz Fest.
King’s distinctive style of roadhouse blues guitar is difficult to replicate. That’s evident throughout “Live at BJ’s Lounge,” the album King and his band recorded on Sept. 19, just days before his accident.
Released as a double album on vinyl just in time for Jazz Fest, it chronicles the loose-yet-tight aesthetic of King’s band, with his chugging guitar setting the pace.
To try to replicate the feel and energy of King’s guitar work, Wright recruited two guitarists to fill in: Tony Dios, a King fan who already knew his songs, and Ryan Scully, a friend of King’s for 25 years, a veteran of Morning 40 Federation (and numerous other musical projects) and the current owner of BJ’s Lounge.
King's Jazz Fest comeback was a triumph. He presided from his wheelchair throne, earning big cheers whenever he raised his arms. With Wright on drums, Bobby DiTullio Jr. on harmonica, Robert Snow on bass and Dios and Scully splitting guitar duties, the Little Freddie King Blues Band sounded like itself across “Can’t Do Nothing Babe,” “Crack Head Joe,” “Baby Please Don’t Go,” “Hello Josephine” and a final “Louisiana Train Wreck.”
Since Jazz Fest, his only other gig has been May 24 at BJ's Lounge. The only other upcoming show on his calendar is the Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival on Oct. 12.
But he and his band will be "Live at BJ's Lounge" again this weekend, a rare opportunity to see this particular King of the blues in the twilight of his career.