Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram.
In September of this year, American blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter Christone "Kingfish" Ingram released the album Hard Road. In the blues genre, this is one of the more significant events of the year. In his statement, the artist says: "This album is based on reflections on real life. I tried to find a balance between fame, heartbreak, love, and relationships, while trying to stay grounded, tour, create, and grow up. These songs are about me coming to terms with my story. They're about me learning to see myself clearly and others with more compassion. It changed the way I write, play, and live." When his debut album Kingfish hit the market in 2019, it was clear to many listeners and critics that an extraordinary talent had emerged, one who, at the age of twenty, was already capable of mature musical expression reflecting his view of life and the world through dominants, fourths, and fifths. The opening boogie "Outside of This Town" from the aforementioned debut album has long been Ingram's most listened to song, and thanks to it, the chubby artist earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Traditional Blues Album.
Six years later, his third studio album is now available on LP and CD. Musically, it is pure blues with a colorful palette of elements that come together to evoke authenticity, clarity, and self-confidence. We hear blues above all, but also jazz, pop, hip hop, and soul. In addition to Ingram's vocals and guitar parts, Kenny Greenburg helped out on guitar, Tom Hambridge plays drums, Marty Sammon plays organ, and Glen Worf and Tom MacDonald provided bass. Alongside sincere, straightforward, and vigorously presented songs such as "Truth" with its funk guitar intro and "Bad Like Me" with its loudspeaker vocals, we can feel the author's emotions in the almost pop ballad "Nothing But Your Love." "Crosses," with its somewhat Hendrix-esque intro, is a raw blues song featuring a beautifully constructed guitar solo with a subtle wah-wah effect. "Voodoo Charm," with its classic blues mix of verses, solos, and chorus, captivates with its calm, sophisticated riffs and the vocalist's excellent phrasing. No one unfamiliar with Ingram would likely associate the emphatic "Back to LA" with an artist under the age of twenty-five. It sounds so mature and grown-up.
The eleven-track, forty-two-minute album ends with the classic acoustic blues song "Memphis," featuring Harrell Davenport's pleasant harmonica. It symbolically concludes a very good set that no blues enthusiast should miss.