in 1969 king hired jack calmes as his manager, who secured him an appearance at the 1969 texas pop festival, alongside led zeppelin and others, and this led to king's signing a recording contract with shelter records, a new label established by the rock pianist leon russell and the record producer denny cordell. the company treated king as an important artist, flying him to chicago to the former chess studios to record the album "getting ready" and providing a lineup of top session musicians, including russell. three albums were made during this period, including blues classics and new songs, such as "goin' down", written by don nix.