Photo by Colin Hart
Christone Kingfish Ingram
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram was born in 1999, yet he performs like he has been on the blues scene for decades.
Born in Clarksdale, Mississippi, Ingram was surrounded by the distinct deep-south blues sound growing up. The Delta Blues Museum resides in his hometown, with notable stars such as Muddy Waters and Sam Cooke also claiming the town as their origin.
“Being from Clarksdale, Mississippi, I’m always going to be true to the original, real blues in some type of way,” Ingram says. “I try my hardest to implement that in my modern-style playing. I try to let that shine through so people can still hear the blues in it.”
Performing covers of legendary blues tracks kicked off Ingram’s career, with his rendition of B.B. King’s “The Thrill is Gone” having gained 4.4 million views since being uploaded to YouTube in February 2019.
“Covers are always going to be easier because it’s already constructed. I think it’s up to us to make it challenging, to make it on our own,” Ingram says. “So, if we’re playing covers, I can try to reconstruct the cover to where you might think it’s my song. In creating original music, the biggest challenge is trying not to sound like anybody else or try not to make something that sounds like something I already did.”
Ingram released his first studio album, Kingfish, in 2019, followed by 662 in 2021. His latest album, Live in London, was just nominated for a GRAMMY award in the category of Best Contemporary Blues Album.
While Ingram is still young at 24 years old, he fell in love with the guitar early on in his life. He once experimented with the bass and drums, but he felt that these instruments held him back from fully expressing himself.
Today, his live performances are legendary to those in the know.
“I felt like with the guitar, I could really be heard and I could really speak more,” he says. “I felt like I had a lot to say, and with the guitar, I could actually convey those feelings, rather than just hanging on the groove. The guitar gave me my world, and when I saw that I could do that and lead the band, that came into a mixing pot.”
Ingram’s ability to make the guitar speak is the centerpiece of his act. He is a student of his experiences, always hungry to be better night after night.
“I think that comes from years of playing in the bars in my hometown and surrounding areas. I was playing one set originally, so at that time you had to really read the room. You had to see what they were really reacting to. Was it the sad stuff? Was it the slow stuff? Was it the old stuff? The modern stuff?” he says. “So even though I’m doing a totally different thing now as far as originals, I still try to read the room.”
Photo by Colin Hart
Christone Kingfish Ingram
Ingram has been living in Los Angeles for about a year and has enjoyed the opportunity to record in the studio there, always trying out new sounds.
“We’ve been getting to do some of these different grooves and stuff,” he says. “On this (upcoming) record, I feel like everything I do will be sticking (with the) blues but I’d actually like to do more music that showcases my voice as well as my guitar playing. So mixing and matching some traditional blues with maybe some modern R&B, or the modern R&B with rock solos after. I kind of want to do a Hendrix meets Barry White type of thing in the future.”
To see the latest from Kingfish, be sure to catch his show at the KING of CLUBS on Friday, Dec. 1. Doors open at 6:30.
Tyler Kirkendall is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at tkirkendall@cityscenemediagroup.com.
