in 1959 king got to know sonny thompson, a pianist, producer, and a&r man for cincinnati's king records. king records' owner, syd nathan, signed king to the subsidiary federal records in 1960. king recorded his debut single for the label on august 26, 1960: "have you ever loved a woman" backed with "you've got to love her with a feeling" (again credited as "freddy" king). from the same recording session at the king studios in cincinnati, ohio, king cut the instrumental "hide away", which the next year reached number five on the r&b chart and number 29 on the pop chart, an unprecedented accomplishment for a blues instrumental at a time when the genre was still largely unknown to white audiences. it was originally released as the b-side of "i love the woman". "hide away" was king's melange of a theme by hound dog taylor and parts by others, such as "the walk", by jimmy mccracklin, and "peter gunn", as credited by king. the title of the tune refers to mel's hide away lounge, a popular blues club on the west side of chicago. willie dixon later claimed that he had recorded king performing "hide away" for cobra records in the late 1950s, but such a version has never surfaced. "hide away" became a blues standard.