Press

Herald Journal Review
"Throughout his life, Freddie Vanderford has played thousands of concerts and appeared on numerous albums. “Greasy Greens” — the release of which will be celebrated with a performance Friday at The Showroom in Spartanburg — is the solo debut album for the 57-year-old musician who cut his teeth as a protege of the late Piedmont bluesman Peg Leg Sam."
- DAN ARMONAITIS, Bluesman Vanderford does one his own way (Dec 09, 2010)

SC ETV Review...
"Freddie Vanderford's passion for music started at an early age when he befriended legendary blues harmonica player Peg Leg Sam at the age of 16. Vanderford's talent and enthusiasm for music have earned him much recognition and many awards, including the 2010 Folk Heritage Award, which he was awarded for "maintaining and sharing the tradition of Piedmont Blues Harp."
- South Carolina Educational TV, ETV Shorts

Village Records
"Blending backwoods country, folk, blues and sheer cult of personality he has delivered a rural classic that just gets better with each listen. Mixing traditional tunes with some originals and well chosen covers (Cash, Townes, Johnson) he takes us on a musical journey that we might have never taken. His instrument of choice is harmonica and his base sound is rooted in the Piedmont style of blues. He’s the type of artist that you would find in a music issue of Oxford American magazine, or as a feature chapter in an update of Greil Marcus’s “Mystery Train.” You heard about it here first."
- Village Records

Union Daily Times
"Vanderford’s performance came shortly after he was presented with the 2010 Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award on the floor of the State House. He was presented with the prestigious award — which was created by the state legislature in 1987 to recognize lifetime achievement in traditional folk arts — in recognition of his passion for the historical Piedmont blues of this area and his willingness to pass on the tradition by mentoring aspiring musicians, conducting workshops and making various radio appearances. Read more: Union Daily Times - Honoring his Talent "
- DERIK VANDERFORD, Union Daily Times (May 08, 2010)

Outlaw Magazine...
"Albums like the Jean Laney Harris Folk Heritage Award Winner Freddie Vanderford’s Greasy Greens make me proud to reside in the same ZIP code as the Piedmont Blues man. He has been conserving this local style of the blues for a few decades now with the blessings of local legend (now deceased) Peg Leg Sam. This is the first solo disc for Freddie on Circle X records, and it is chock full of local soulful musicians. The multi-talented Brandon Turner not only co-produced the project but also musically littered the album playing everything from lead guitar and steel guitar to bongos. Did backing vocals, too...."
- Jason Robinson, Outlaw Magazine (Mar 20, 2012)

Universal Music Tribe
"“Freddie Vanderford is one of the hardest working blues men in South Carolina, maybe in the whole world. He channels the very spirit of the great Piedmont blues men like Rev. Gary Davis and Pink Anderson with great vocals and red hot harmonica. I have been listening to and watching Freddie for many a year, and this is the finest record he has ever released. Great classic blues like “She Can Cook Good Sallett,” accompanied on acoustic guitar by long time side man Brandon Turner, and the hopin' “Greasy Greens.” This time out, Vanderford expands his boundaries and delivers the goods on some good ol' country songs like Johnny Cash’s “Delia’s Gone” and “I Still Miss Someone,” and Townes Van Zandt’s “White Freightliner Blues.” Of course, Freddie also covers Robert Johnson and turns in at least one tune he penned himself, an excellent one called “Trouble Come Knockin.” Good Piedmont blues with some of the hottest harp blowing this side of John Popper…” "
- Michael Buffalo Smith, Universal Music Tribe

Metromix
"Vanderford learned where Sam, born Arthur Jackson, lived. So he drove his old Rambler out there only to find the 60-year-old-ish bluesman wasn’t home, although Sam’s brother told the youth to return later that evening. “Sam wouldn’t play for me at first,” Vanderford, sitting on a couch in his Buffalo, S.C. home, says. “He made me play. I started out hanging out with him and it went from there.” Vanderford took those harmonica roots and continued them, logging hard miles on road gigs, including a 1979 trek in which his band travelled from Boise, Idaho, to Spartanburg in the back of a Ryder moving truck. Vanderford also recorded and performed with New Legacy Duo. In October, he finally released his first solo album, “Greasy Greens.” The set collects folk songs and blues tracks, including “Delia” and “Parchman Farm.”"
- Matt Wake, Metromix (Dec 16, 2010)

The Southerner
"“Deep down within the foothills of South Carolina, there once lived a blues man named Pink Anderson, a man who wrote the blues, sang the blues, and lived the blues.... A man who sang and danced and told jokes,... He was a man who would also influence musicians as varied as Buddy Guy and the late Toy Caldwell,.. A few years later, a young whippersnapper by the name of Freddie Vanderford would also come out of Spartanburg County, singing and blowing a mean harp in a band called The Shades, all the while tipping his hat to the original Piedmont blues man himself, Pink Anderson. Nowadays, Vanderford is holding his own sort of medicine shows, accompanied by the youthful Brandon Turner on acoustic guitar, and paying homage to the enduring legacy of Piedmont blues."
- Michael Buffalo Smith, The Southerner

Jam In The Park...
" ...Whether he’s playing harmonica on Pink Anderson’s Chicken or playing the washboard to Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Vanderford’s rhythmic, rootsy style enthralls listeners of all ages. Vanderford’s mastery of his craft enables him to coolly shift from melodic ballads such as Johnny Cash’s I Still Miss Someone to Jimi Hendrix’s heart-thumping Purple Haze. Be sure to see this great blues man every chance you get! “He really is one of South Carolina’s true treasures,” – SC State Representative Gilda Cobb-Hunter"
- Jam In the Park

Upstate Rocks review...
"Armed with a harmonica, washboard and guitar, Freddie Vanderford can interpret most any blues, folk, soul, Americana or rock and roll song. With astounding harmonica licks taught to him by the late traveling medicine show performer and Piedmont Blues harpist, “Peg Leg” Sam Jackson, Vanderford can immediately captivate any audience.... "
- UpstateRocks.US

Flying Under The Radar...
"Piedmont Blues refers to a regional subcategory of blues, which is characterized by ragtime-based rhythms associated mostly with African-American musicians of the southeastern U.S. Freddie Vanderford is Piedmont blues. Born in the tiny town of Buffalo, S.C., he grew up listening to his grandad playing harmonica, though more of a mountain style than blues. Freddie started playing guitar at ten years old, appearing on the Farmer Gray show on WSPA radio in Spartanburg, S.C. and the Bob Ledford TV show on Channel 13 in Asheville, N.C. He credits “Peg Leg Sam” Jackson as an important musical influence in his life. “I met ‘Peg Leg Sam’ when I was about 15,” Freddie tells me. Jackson was a percussive harp player with a talent for storytelling. A rough sort of character who played in a traveling medicine show, he lost his leg in a hoboing accident and part of an ear in a shooting.... "
- Dariel Bendin, Flying Under the Radar (Oct 06, 2011)

Post & Courier Review...
"There isn't a more genuine style of music than that of traditional blues. That's a bold statement of course but it's one that's backed up by decades of folklore and characters whose songs transcend the boundaries of music and enter into a realm of cultural significance. The blues has long told tales of rebellion and wild nights, heartache, swampy isolation and the inevitable struggle of hard times. It has stood as a voice for those who, without it, would have no voice at all. All the while, the blues has provided a look into a subculture that many find intriguing but too fearsome to explore without a guide.... "
- Matthew Godby, The Post & Courier (Mar 23, 2012)