The blues is a genre so popular and over 200 years old that it might easily be argued against requiring innovation. That's the mystery at the heart of Grammy-winning musician Christone "Kingfish" Ingram's ascent from Clarksdale, Mississippi. The standards of the genre, Kingfish's highly regarded recent work, and his masterful handling of his signature purple Fender Kingfish Telecaster Mississippi Night version guitar demonstrated on Wednesday night at Nashville's Brooklyn Bowl a depth of both nuanced and studied understanding of blues history and how both have informed the past, present, and future of popular culture.
Also Read: Christone Kingfish Ingram
What Do You Know About Christone?
Growing up in Clarksdale, Ingram is the epitome of the neighbourhood kid made good. Around a century ago, Clarksdale and Mississippi saw the blues' initial boom, and in recent years, the region has had something of a blues rebirth, demonstrating to the rest of the globe that the granddaddy of American music still has chords to play. The Ground Zero Blues Club, which was co-founded by actor Morgan Freeman over twenty years ago, features some of those chords as a means of showcasing the wide range of gifted blues artists who are still in the neighbourhood and performing. Freeman lives close to Clarksdale and was raised in the Delta.
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Hits of Christone!
He describes himself as an "old soul," but he's also always on the lookout for "modern elements" to include in his style. His "hip-hop flavor" and "pop-style guitars," combined with his professed love of Jimi Hendrix and mentoring from musicians such as Buddy Guy, have resulted in his "relatable" songs such as "Empty Promises," "Long Distance Woman," and "Outside of This Town" being heard globally through his Live In London album, which was released in September. Before his performance, Kingfish says to The Tennessean, "All they ever did was do the same thing that I'm doing continuing to pave an inspirational way by following a (iconic) lineage." Kingfish could be too busy luxuriating in the enigma of its pedigree. Alternatively, he may concentrate more on the work that results from breathing such rarefied air, as he did on Wednesday night.
Achievements Towards success!
Nine Blues Music Awards have already been won by Kingfish, who is 24 years old, including Best Guitarist, Contemporary Blues Album of the Year, and Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year. This achievement, together with his recent rise to Grammy-winning recognition, sets him on a path that redefines standards, trailing in the footsteps of previous blues musicians whose body of work speaks louder than their trophy cabinet. "Some people may be getting carried away in their assessments of my talent," adds Kingfish. "However, time has and will continue to prove that I will be one of the ones who will go down in the history books." Unfazed by his praise, he provides a modest explanation of the atmosphere of his live performance and what motivates him to keep up its increasing popularity across the world. "Blues is a feeling, but you don't want it to feel like BS and showing that you're not practicing your craft and taking it seriously."