Reverend Freakchild

Blues & Spirituals/Hymn Hustler

Treated And Released Records

In the tradition of such Holy Blues Reverends as Reverend Gary Davis, such is the irreverent Reverend Freakchild. The Rev. primarily performs solo acoustic these days but has also recently recorded with some amazing musicians including Melvin Seals, Mark Karan, Chris Parker, Hugh Pool, Jay Collins, the Grammy-nominated G. Love, and The Reverend Shawn Amos. He has released so many albums that Rev. Freakchild can’t recall how many! The last was “A Bluesman Of Sorts”, released May 2025.

Like John Hammond Jr., he is a student of the Blues. He played in the roots rock jam band Bananafish and then did some work with The Neptune Ensemble, The Soul Miners, The Lucky Devils, and The Cosmic All-Stars, touring internationally. The Rev. spent three years off-off-off Broadway singing blues and spirituals on Sundays at Tobacco Road, the now-defunct NYC hippie hangout replete with drug addicts, hookers, and music freaks.

The Rev. has also served as a member and featured soloist of the Metro Mass Gospel Choir, performing at such venues as Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and the Town Hall Theater. The Rev.’s music has been featured in many TV programs and commercials, and also national radio advertising campaigns. He grew up in Hawaii, holds a degree in philosophy and religion from Northeastern University in Boston, and now currently resides in Boulder, Colorado, studying Tibetan Buddhism. He continues to perform and preach, saying, “Music is my religion. Through song I seek transcendence!”

This two-CD reissue combines the first two albums of his recording career: 2001’s “Blues & Spirituals” and 2003’s “Hymn Hustler”. Unable to cover each of the twenty songs included, I will try to highlight some of them. The Rev. Freakchild plays guitar, slide guitar, harmonica, banjo, and vocals, and demonstrates Holy Ghost Power. He is accompanied by Michael Gomez and Drew Glackin on lap steel; Alex “Ajax” Grubner on viola; Jon “Bones Ritchie” Robinson on upright bass; and Dr. Patrick Carmichael on drums and cymbals. Other vocals and voices include the Rev., “CC”, and Cleophus James.

Disc 1, “Blues & Spirituals”, opens with “Jesus On The Mainline”, a song I first heard sung by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on the “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” album, as the Rev. sings, “Jesus is on the mainline, tell him what you want, Jesus is on the mainline, tell him what you want, Jesus is on the mainline, tell him what you want, if your feeling down and out, tell him what you want, call him, call him, tell him what you want.”

“Love These Blues” is the first original, as the Rev. chimes, “I feel like a nightingale, oh lord, tell me these blues”. On “Mo Betta Blues”, another original, he chants, “then one summer night she made me mo betta.” “Blues For No One” is an original instrumental.

On the traditional “Pure Religion”, the Rev. cries, “I got them pure religion, halleluh, oh one morning in the sun, when all my work is done, I got that pure religion, halleluh”.

“God Bless The Child” was written by Billie Holiday and Arthur Herzog Jr., as the Rev. moans, “Them that’s got shall get, them that’s not shall lose, so the Bible said and it still is news, mama may have, papa may have, but God bless the child that’s got his own, that’s got his own”.

On “Cheeba-Cheeba”, the Rev. groans, “come on baby, tell me who do you love, when I get to a party, to get it started, I grab the microphone and rock it cold hearted, go behind the curtains while my fanz they point, you know what Loc’s doin’, I’m blazen, a joint, cause it seems a lot of times, I’m at my best, after some methical or a bowl of sense, I’m creatin’, multiplyin’, big time supplyin’ enuff bud to keep the whole party high on…smoke it down to the dub or roach tip so much resin it’s starting to drip…”

“Willin'” is a song written by Lowell George and recorded by Little Feat three times, the first being in 1971, although the most popular version is on the album “Waitin’ For Columbus”. The Rev. shouts, “I’ve been warped by the rain, driven by the snow, I’m drunk and dirty, don’t you know, and I’m still willin’, and I was out on the road, late at night, I seen my pretty Alice in every headlight, Alice, Dallas Alice, and I’ve been from Tucson to Tucumcari, Tehachapi to Tonopah, driven every kind of rig that’s ever been made, driven the back roads so I wouldn’t get weighed, and if you give me – weed, whites, and wine, and you show me a sign, I’ll be willin’ to be movin’.”

The “Hymn Hustler” tracks reveal a tougher side of the Rev.’s music, with some evil slide guitar, traditional blues, more mature writing, and trippy psychedelia from the windmills of the Rev.’s mind. It begins with the traditional Delta blues classic “Rollin’ and Tumblin'”, first recorded by Hambone Willie Newbern in 1929, as the Rev. fires up some wicked slide guitar and sings, “And I rolled and I tumbled and I cried the whole night long, and I rolled this mornin’ mama, and I didn’t know right from wrong…and I told my woman just before I left the town, don’t you let nobody tear the barrelhouse down”.

The Rev. continues with another traditional gospel song, “In My Time of Dying”, recorded by Blind Willie Johnson, Bob Dylan, and Led Zeppelin, as the Rev. wails, “Jesus goin’ a-make up my dyin’ bed”.

On the very original “Supersubconscious Mind”, a deeply introspective journey, the Rev. howls, “just wading in the waters, of my Supersubconscious smoked mind, care not to disturb the universe, or let the devils waste my time”.

“Strange Magic” is another inner mystery tour with psychedelic leanings, as the Rev. declares, “Now you’re probably mellowing down easy, but it seems I’m still haunted by that strange magic”.

“Search My Heart” is an expertly picked Rev. Gary Davis gospel song, first recorded in 1961, as the Rev. pleads, “Oh, Lord, search my heart”.

On “A Day Late and $ Short”, the Rev. laments, “Well, I went down to the doctor, they said I was a day late, so, I went to get a drink, but the cash wouldn’t resonate”.

“Don’t Miss Nothing” is a bluesy folk original featuring the Rev.’s guitar behind lyrics that speak of a blood red moon and boiling seas but evolve to an earthier complaint: “Ya don’t miss your water ’til the well runs dry, Ya I say, don’t miss nothing ’til it’s gone, I missed my baby, miss her all night long”.

On the closer, “Momento Mori”, a Latin phrase meaning “remember you must die”, the Rev. croons, “By the darkest river, beneath the leafless trees, I think I’m drowning, this dream is killing me”.

The good Reverend’s spiritual side stems from his Buddhist beliefs. But for all of his otherworldliness, he’s a righteous singer, songwriter, and guitarist. With “Blues & Spirituals” and “Hymn Hustler”, you can hear the Rev. explore his mind and expand your own. It seems as though the Freakchild will live long and prosper!

Richard Ludmerer

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