Someone once complimented Christone “Kingfish” Ingram by referring to him as a “guitar god," but Ingram “didn’t like it.”
The sentiment was nice and all.
God just felt a bit much.
Even if you're the most talented and promising new blues singer/guitarists to come along in years.
Just 20, Ingram sings and plays with feel and authority far beyond that age.
The Mississippi native’s appearance on Netflix superhero show “Luke Cage” led to coverage in Rolling Stone’s annual “Hot List” issue. NPR and Forbes have covered Ingram and his music too. YouTube videos of Ingram’s live performances, including covers of Prince’s power ballad “Purple Rain,” B.B. King’s quintessential blues hit “The Thrill is Gone” and early Jimi Hendrix single “Hey Joe,” have boosted buzz too.
Ingram’s debut album “Kingfish” was released May 17.
The LP contains the stomping single “Outside Of This Town” and a nifty duet with blues icon Buddy Guy called “Fresh Out.” Other highlights include slow burners “That’s Fine By Me” and “Love Ain’t My Favorite Word" and “Before I’m Old” a slinky rock-tinged track that contains Ingram’s favorite guitar solo - cut in a single take - on the disc.
On a recent afternoon, Ingram checked in via phone from a relative's home in Baltimore before packing his suitcase to return to the road.
Edited excerpts are below.
Christone, do you consider yourself a guitar player first or a singer first?
I was a singer first. Because when I was younger, that's what I was focused on. I had an interest in playing the guitar at that time but I wasn't big on like I was on singing because I raised in church so that's all I did was sing. But I'm a louder guitar player though. [Laughs.]
How did getting cast in season two of "Luke Cage" change things for you?
Oh man. It gave me a more urban fanbase, like a lot more younger people started to gravitate toward my music because of that.
Last year you appeared with the influential rapper Rakim on an installment of NPR’s “Tiny Desk” stripped-down live music series. What’s something interesting you learned from making music with Rakim?
Man, working with Rakim was cool. [Laughs.] Just his flow, his cadence, everything was dope. One thing that people don't know is rap for years has incorporated live instrumentation, so when you put his smoothness and his lyrical content together it's already great, but when you add that good band to it, it was something magical. That was a great experience, most definitely.
"Listen" a song on your album with Keb 'Mo guesting is more of an R&B track than blues. I like the blues material on your record and its powerful and you're great at it and that's your wheelhouse. But has it ever occurred to you that your breakthrough to a big mainstream audience might come through something besides a blues song. Maybe an R&B song. Maybe something else.
Yeah, because if you see the way things are going, I guess you could say mainstream people are not wanting the I-IV-V type blues stuff. What I really to do is play all genres. But my root and my background will always be blues. So who knows what could happen?
How many guitars do you current own? And how many guitars is too many?
I think I have maybe 12 or 13 at the moment. I had more but I gave some stuff away and ended up selling some stuff. I don't think you could own too many.
Got a cool story from cutting the track "Fresh Out" with Buddy Guy for your LP? He's still such a wild animal on the guitar.
Oh, most definitely, but we didn't cut it together. He overdubbed his parts, but it was funny because I think that song was meant for him on one of his records but they gave it to me. And when he heard it he liked and wanted to get on it. And I was all for that. [Laughs] I was hoping he would get on it.
I remember seeing you a couple years ago on Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx's YouTube series "My Favorite Riff." Did you ever get into those 80s hard-rock bands, like Motley Crue, Van Halen, Guns N' Roses or whoever?
Of course, Eddie Van Halen. I liked Kiss. I remember I saw I think a concert from '87 on VH1 when I was younger and that's how I got into Kiss. AC/DC, of course.
You're quite advanced for your age as a blues guitarist. To get there, how many hours a day would you practice and at what age did you start hitting it hard like that?
I don't have a set time for practicing, if it's me just picking up the instrument and playing or me setting up the computer and watching different videos and searching for certain modes and stuff. It was pretty much like that from the beginning because I always wanted to get better. So, from the time I started playing bass at the (Delta) Blues Museum it was always like that. I practice a lot.
How did you celebrate when your first album finally came out?
I played a show that night and right after me and my band we did cheers in the green room and talked about it and that's pretty much it. We didn't have like a big party or anything. If I was at home it probably would've been a whole different story. [Laughs.]
You’re from the same Clarksdale, Miss. area known for being the former stomping grounds of legendary bluesman Robert Johnson. Besides that story about Johnson supposedly making the deal with The Devil at the crossroads (selling his soul in exchange for spellbinding guitar skills) what’s the best Robert Johnson story you ever heard, from growing up around there?
Um, let's see. I live in Friar's Point and there used to be a pharmacy store there and he would actually come out and sit on the benches in front of the pharmacy and sit there and play and people would gather around and watch him, including Muddy Waters. Those benches are not there anymore. But there's a guy up in Little Rock who has them. But yeah, that was one of the stories I heard growing up about Robert Johnson being in Coahoma County, going to that pharmacy and sitting on those benches and playing.
That story's a little more believable than him making a deal with The Devil.
Right! [Laughs.]
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and his band perform 8 p.m. May 29 at Huntsville’s SideTracks Music Hall, address 415-E Church St. Ste. 12. Tickets are $15 advance, $20 day of show (plus service fees) via eventbrite.com. Nashville rockers Blackfoot Gypsies are the support act. This is an ages 19 and up show.
