Daily Inspiration: Meet Will Freed

Today we’d like to introduce you to Will Freed.

Hi Will, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I got started very young as my step-dad Dave Liles Jr helped me by getting me my first guitar at 5 years old. It didn’t really take tell I was 12 & my mama got me a blue Johnson acoustic guitar. But I fooled with that first one for many years using it as a canoe paddle in my imagination & as a self defense weapon against my older brother…anything really. My brother broke that guitar over our bunk bed post. I got the blue guitar a few years later. Ultimately I ended up using the blue guitar to pay for a ride to Lima Ohio from Calhoun County WV…I think…it’s been so long ago. But I think that’s how it went down. I then went to Kansas City Missouri from Lima with my sister Shanna & her family. It was a long ride to somewhere…new & exciting. Shortly after arriving in KCMO I met my mentor Ray Narbitz & my career got started. I was 17 at the time.
How I got to where I am ? Hard work & dedication to your art. I have been playing 240+ Live Shows a year for 15 or 16 years. Iv had a few things slow me down like the birth of my three sons & my marriage to my long time partner & love of my life Ashley. I use to stay out on the road for longer periods but after the kids I tried to stay as close as I can. But now our kids are growing up so fast & im starting to play more & more. I’m lucky to be able to call the shots on my life & what I do with my time. That is priceless to me. True Freedom I guess. Work as hard as you possibly can without hurting yourself….thats how you make it

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I wouldn’t say smooth. It takes countless hours on the phone and computer with endless rejection to make it in this business. Especially when you start as young as I did. It feels like you will never get to play this or that show or festival but you keep practicing every day & singing 6 or 7 hours a day….then one day it clicks…you can hear the other harmony parts in your head & you can see the song in your mind like game you mastered as a child. It feels really good…at least it did for me. Once you establish yourself & get your tour circuit together & start making money it’s easy to fall into drugs & alcohol addiction. It’s just the way it is. I struggled & got treatment and I hope anyone reading this that’s struggling with something that you think you can’t get out from under…I’m here to tell you that you can’t do it ! Ask for help & I bet you’ll get it #youareloved

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I bring a high quality live music event to where ever it’s needed.
I am known for singing & playing the guitar & harmonica at a very high level.
Things I am proud of is receiving the “Joy In Music” award from the Greater Allen County Blues Society for the preservation of the blues.
John Popper of Blues Traveler is a close friend that played on my debut album Sinners & Saints. Over the years John and I have become close & I ended up playing his wedding to one of my best friends Gidget Fisher. John & I have played many acoustic duo shows together as well as John fearing with Will Freed Band at a huge festival in Ohio call Creekside B&J Fest. John also mentioned me in his biography
Monte Montgomery is one of the finest musicians in the world today. He & I became friends online first. Then he invited me to Texas to play at his birthday show at Antone’s in Austin & then another show in Dallas TX at Granada Theater. Monte also played on my 2019 release of Same Thing playing his signature swampy slide guitar. Monte and I also co-wrote the next single Good Times that will be released in the next few months

We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
Watching my dad play at The Wayside in Lima Ohio when I was 8 or 9. He sat me on top of the speakers and let me watch the whole show. It left a deep impression on me. Also the first time I got to play with Dave Liles Jr, Dave Liles Sir and our aunt that played guitar. I was like 19 and it was magical. I felt like I was baptized in to a musical brotherhood that day. Grandpa Dave also gave me a G&L Telecaster that day that (after getting his blessing) I sold to buy the Guild D40 that I still play today !

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/willfreedband
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1Cerx6uEkt/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@WILLFREED
• Other: #Will Freed on ReverbNation! – http://www.reverbnation.com/open_graph/artist/1352508