Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram - Kingfish (2019)

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Heavy weight talent
This debut work offers a range of styles reflecting Ingram's tastes and guitar skills. From barn-burners songs like “Outside Of This Town”, “It Ain't Right” and “If You Love Me”, that seem coming straight from Texas and immediately remind SRV or ZZ Top, to Delta blues with acoustic ballads like the innovative “Been Here Before” or the more classical “Hard Times”, through soul blues like the sorrowful “Listen” with Keb' Mo enlightened by fine arrangements around organ waves, “Before I'm Old” and “Believe These Blues”, both with a great guitar solos, “Trouble” and its Louisiana/New Orleans touch, or “That's Fine By Me” featuring nice piano by Marty Sammon. Among these are also two outstanding tracks : “Fresh Out” with Buddy Guy, and “Love Ain't My Favorite Word” mixing crossed influences from B.B. King and Hendrix in a memorable guitar hero solo.

Producer Tom Hambridge

The album was magnificently produced, and co-wrote for 11 of the 12 songs, by Tom Hambridge, a definitely interesting character who also produced Susan Tedeschi, Joe Louis Walker, Buddy Guy, Keb’ Mo’, George Thorogood. Ana Popovic, Joe Bonamassa… Of course designed to highlight Ingram's exceptionally precocious guitar skills, the 12 songs are not artificial either. The rather meaningful and often dark lyrics are in the blues tradition. Firmly rooted in the Delta blues tradition, the young Clarksdale native Ingram is also opened to different contemporary musical genres (he doesn't hide his admiration for Prince) and is building a link between past, present and future.

“I come from Clarksdale, Mississippi, where the real stuff was born. I have that foundation. As I get older, my ear’s going to expand, and I like all types of music, so I feel like I’m going to experiment more. Right now, I just kind of accepted the fact that I’m kind of in a gray area, in a mix between the two. You ain’t going to please everybody”, he told exactly a year ago to Guitar World magazine.

With Buddy Guy (left)

Ingram is a real phenom who took a superb revenge on the bad cards life gave him. Victim of obesity, he would also be affected by a slight kind of autism (Asperger syndrome) according to diverse informations, both possibly linked. Born in January 1999, he started playing drums at age six and bass at eleven before switching to guitar. He attended classes at the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, learning blues guitar and the history of blues. Today, he is one of the most brilliant among the new generation of young blues prodigies like Marquise Knox and Jontavious Willis.

Though he hadn't recorded any album yet, his reputation had widely spread, particularly through the videos of his performances he posted on YouTube while still in high school, and his career was already keeping him busy. In 2014, while he was just 14, he played in front of Michelle Obama at the White House. The two bonus songs featured on the demo “Deltaboy”, from 2014 too, show how good he already was. Before reaching 20 and recording his first album, he had played the best clubs and festivals (St. Louis Blues Festival 2017, Chicago Blues Festival 2018, Australia's largest music festival), opened for The Rolling Stones in London's Hyde Park, guested on many albums from elder fellow bluesmen like Eric Gales, and toured with Vampire Weekend, Jason Isbell, and Buddy Guy in 2019.

His first album is a master strike, but on stage he is even more impressive. The guitar looks unusually small against his massive body and you wonder how his pudgy fingers manage to run so easily on the neck without mistaking one string for the other. On the numerous videos I have watched and selected for Onurblues, not only does he sound great, probably even greater than on the album, but he looks totally haunted by his music, possessed by some kind of invisible spirit, living each note as the last one he would ever play. His performances radiate with a strange ominous feeling of urgency, as if he knew his time was counted. He is way beyond technical mastery, he is an incarnation of the blues. ☻

➨ Interviews
■ Kingfish and his mother Princess Pride Ingram on the Rock Newman Show, 2016 : https://youtu.be/bwxnzLgWF6E
■ On Smokin' Bluz, 2022 : https://youtu.be/UA2QCBjGL2I
■ At Fender Headquarters, Hollywood, CA, 2019 : https://youtu.be/nQFqimtopu0

➨ Kingfish site : https://www.christonekingfishingram.com/
➨ Kingfish YT channel : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMvcysfVmw_twtggWtyp17Q/videos


➨ Live on YT year after year
➩ 2015 : 16 years old
■ Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival, Portland, OR : https://youtu.be/7C6pL3aUSBo or https://youtu.be/u3vawSLXiHM
■ Bukka White Festival, Aberdeen, MS : https://youtu.be/hzxeOQhdQzQ

➩ 2016 : 17 years old
■ Double Decker Festival, Oxford, MS : https://youtu.be/TobpRU42q3Y
■ With Samantha Fish, Waterfront Blues Festival, Portland, OR : https://youtu.be/2Gu50cjDRss
■ Lollapalooza Festival, Paris, France : https://youtu.be/XP6KIGtQ5lA

➩ 2017 : 18 years old
■ Blues Festival, Mitroviça, Kosovo : https://youtu.be/CaC01-cf2v0

➩ 2018 : 19 years old

■ “Love Ain’t My Favorite Word”, Biscuits and Blues, San Francisco : https://youtu.be/x05mylOZOKk
■ Montréal Jazz Festival : https://youtu.be/FomzrglFZ5k
■ Highmark Blues and Heritage Festival, Pittsburgh, PA : https://youtu.be/IXgbwIH436w
■ Mont-Tremblant, Quebec : https://youtu.be/ZNG4qWRKDgI
■ The Mint, Los Angeles : https://youtu.be/puauCHRKEoM

➩ 2019 : 20 years old
■ “I'm Fresh Out”, The Blue Canoe, Tupelo, MS : https://youtu.be/WE-KhOgbV-A
■ With Eric Gales & Samantha Fish : https://youtu.be/ZEiMjGL7uMM
■ With Artur Menezes, Arcadia Blues Club, Arcadia, CA : https://youtu.be/zvGfqXTeP_8
■ Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise : https://youtu.be/2WKHKKCqDk4 or https://youtu.be/6zpsFxx2AFA
■ Buddy Guy with Kingfish & David Julia, Florida : https://youtu.be/5EDp3B8-8GE

■ Winthrop Rhythm & Blues Festival, WA : https://youtu.be/3KxO6s42WMI
■ Growler's, Memphis, TN : https://youtu.be/0Wn3Y5VMGCo
■ Dallas International Guitar Festival : https://youtu.be/NbVATPlR6Uw or https://youtu.be/deT71FBixDE
■ “Catfish Blues”, St. Georges Blues Festival, Delaware City, DE : https://youtu.be/sNwBiAdUZ8I
■ "Love Ain't My Favorite Word" with his teeth, The Southern Cafe & Music Hall, Charlottesville, VA, August : https://youtu.be/bp26P6Wo45U
■ Huntsville, AL : https://youtu.be/ZY2TTxZPIxM or https://youtu.be/vNHXmftpLSI
■ The Grog Shop, Cleveland, OH : https://youtu.be/Hnze70TT-IE
■ San Francisco : https://youtu.be/CBcu_NTxXfQ and https://youtu.be/l3poHxn9JcI
■ Clearwater Festival, NY : https://youtu.be/PHflPeCgoW4
■ Boise, ID : https://youtu.be/eTd1aTan7WA
■ Oklahoma City, OK : https://youtu.be/NydAle-JRhw
■ New Orleans : https://youtu.be/RKrm9LVuw7Y
■ “Long Distance Woman” / “Hey Joe”, Keswick Theater, Philadelphia, PA : https://youtu.be/ZLFAW5yInGA

➩ 2020 : 21 years old
■ Nashville, TN, January : https://youtu.be/SEnlW3QuEKo
■ Harrisburg, PA, February : https://youtu.be/QvnKTFqyX_k
■ Brooklyn Bowl, NY, February : https://youtu.be/qcIKgK51UP0
■ Keeping The Blues Alive At Sea Cruise, February : https://youtu.be/_zOZuGk-voo
■ With Phillip "Cat" Carter, Hattiesburg, MS, February : https://youtu.be/8O35BOSx2cE
■ Glenside, PA, November : https://youtu.be/sHpuGSa1G5c

➩ 2021 : 22 years old
■ 22nd birthday concert, Ground Zero Blues Club Clarksdale, MS, January : https://youtu.be/GaQ0IDLw6qs
■ Juke Joint Festival, Clarksdale, MS, April : https://youtu.be/XAUkKDLDN0A

■ Ground Zero Blues Club, Clarksdale, MS, August : https://youtu.be/_d3vsdmgjLw
■ Hot August Music Festival, Cockeysville, MD, August : https://youtu.be/zSv_g8ZhXNQ
■ Charlottesville, VA, August : https://youtu.be/ZAPaccH_akw
■ The Coach House, San Juan Capistrano, CA, September : https://youtu.be/TRoKDabwk5M
■ XPoNential Music Festival, Camden NJ, September : https://youtu.be/XIonrXVYsPg
■ With Eric Gales, John Coltrane International Jazz and Blues Festival, High Point, NC, September : https://youtu.be/f_NrZ1kYdDM
■ Niagara Falls, NY, November : https://youtu.be/TVkJ5Vu5rmM
Webster Hall, NYC, NY, November : https://youtu.be/ZeMuakKhfXs
■ Homer, Alaska, November : https://youtu.be/TdDoN_AJ5kA
■ Egg Center for the Performing Arts, Albany NY, November : https://youtu.be/0EGEpBO5WFk

➩ 2022 : 23 years old
■ Huntsville, AL, March : https://youtu.be/JaQTvfIK2Do
■ With the Dylan Salfer Band, Minneapolis, MN, March : https://youtu.be/7aQgLpJkz5s
■ The Factory, Saint Louis, MO, March : https://youtu.be/QNF9dRYR_Zk
■ With Buddy Guy, Tyson, VA, April : https://youtu.be/b6wGhUBbs4c
■ Seattle, WA, May : https://youtu.be/j5VKayj-SYc
■ Ace Hotel Theater, Los Angeles, May : https://youtu.be/-5fmMYsnl4g
■ Grolloo, Netherlands, June : https://youtu.be/sUSk_RUR1LI
■ London, June : https://youtu.be/hH0qbWuQfn8

■ Glasgow, Scotland, June : https://youtu.be/7ForAjFpNt0
■ Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland, July : https://youtu.be/wEEsYWQecKI
■ "Hey Joe", La Maroquinerie, Paris, France, July : https://youtu.be/yi7PIRD2L34
■ Umbria Jazz Festival, Perugia, Italy, July : https://youtu.be/eYUjZ_-Sa_Q
■ With Buddy Guy & Kenny Wayne Shepherd, BackRoads Blues Festival, Lewiston, NY, August : https://youtu.be/f4IZsMxyJ0I
■ Bourbon & Beyond Festival, Louisville, KY, September : https://youtu.be/vpNuCYe4Q-8