Career
Details of his life are sketchy and sometimes contradictory. Spruell was probably born in Lake Providence, Louisiana. He relocated with his family to Chicago, Illinois, when he was a young child.
His Social Security records gave his birth date as December 1893.
His recordings, although classed as Delta blues, are noted for his musical styling rather than geographical accuracy regarding his long-time place of residence. On June 25, 1926, Spruell recorded "Milk Cow Blues" in Chicago.
The track was released by Okeh Records, backed with "Muddy Water Blues", recorded in November that year. Both sides were credited to Papa Freddie.
His second single release was "Way Back Down Home", backed with the same recording of "Muddy Water Blues".
He recorded two more songs in 1928, one of which was "Tom Cat Blues", issued by Paramount Records and credited to Mr. Freddie Spruell. Five more songs were recorded in April 1935 and released by Bluebird Records under the name of Mr. Freddie. In this session he cut "Let"s Go Riding", his best-known number.
Carl Martin played second guitar behind Spruell on the track.
At the insistence of his mother, Spruell stopped playing secular music in the mid-1940s, and he became a Baptist preacher. Spruell died in Chicago in June 1956, after a lengthy stay in hospital.
He was aged 62. Number death certificate has been foundation
All his recorded work is on the compilation album Mississippi Blues: Complete Recorded Works, Volume 2 (1926–1935).
"Let"s Go Riding" was featured in the soundtrack of the 2001 film Ghost World.