Jake Speed November 2, 2006

For the past five years, Jake Speed & the Freddies have hitchhiked down Cincinnati's American folk, bluegrass, and ragtime music highway with his award-winning band, The Freddies. Jake Speed & the Freddies are a four-piece band made out of flat top guitar, tenor guitar, mandolin, and upright bass (plus harmonica, kazoo, washboard, and watering can). Their traditional and original songs leap right out of Depression-era freight trains and right into Ohio River steamboats. Their near-vaudeville style stage shows and quick-witted charisma rope in loyal fans of new and old generations alike.

The musical conductors aboard the Freddies include Jake Speed, Kentucky Graham, Justin Todhunter, and Chris Werner. Jake sings, picks guitar, blows harmonica, buzzes kazoo, and kicks the beat on the washboard. Kentucky Graham guns and grinds on the old tenor guitar. Justin Todhunter strums and picks on the tiniest of little old mandolins. Chris Werner pounds and thumps on the upright bass. Jake Speed & the Freddies make up boxcars full of original Cincinnati songs while reviving the music of legends like Woody Guthrie, Jimmie Rodgers, Elizabeth Cotten, and Jesse Fuller. The Freddies were born on the streets of Cincinnati where they performed their songs for tips and continue to believe "If you ain't good enough for the street corner, what are you good for?"

Official Website: http://www.freddiesmusic.com/