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When: Aug. 23, 8 p.m.
Where: Commodore Ballroom, 868 Granville St., Vancouver
Tickets/info: Ticketmaster.ca
The mythology built up around legendary blues musicians is that to master the form you either put in the time or cut a deal with the devil at a crossroads. A third option is you just have the music in your soul from the get-go.
This certainly seems to be the case with Christone (Kingfish) Ingram.
Releasing his Alligator Records’ debut at age 20, the blues guitarist and singer has been honoured with six Blues Music Awards and a Grammy for best contemporary blues album for 2021’s 662. His recent record, Live In London, captures the 25-year-old in full flight at a June 6, 2023, concert at London’s famed Highbury neigbourhood venue the Garage.
Backed by his crack band of keyboardist Deshawn Alexander, bassist Paul Rogers and drummer Christopher Black, the 17-song double album burns from start to finish. Rather than trot out tried, true, and frequently tired chestnuts by the likes of B.B. King and Muddy Waters, Ingram showcases a set of his originals or contemporary classics by composers such as Tom Hambridge.
From the cracking guitar playing to the gospel-tinged vocals, Live In London is one of the best live blues recordings to turn up in decades. Ingram sees the album as a natural progression following two studio releases.
“I got into gospel music in the church at a very early age and come from a very historic blues city, Clarksdale, Mississippi,” he said. “It was inevitable that I was going to hear the secular side of the music one day, as gospel and blues are coming from the same community roots, and I was instantly drawn to the life stories being told in the songs. I include elements of both styles in my music, because if you come from the church it never leaves.”
A perfect example of this marriage is Another Life Goes By on Live In London.
Buoyed by a jazzy organ groove, the lyric pleads about finding a solution to the continuing gun crimes in the U.S. with the intensity of a preacher before showcasing a deftly picked guitar solo that gets its impact from quiet technique over showboat flash. Not that there aren’t plenty of blazing high-amped six string workouts in the set as well.
Mississippi Nights sears with Ingram’s near-Hendrix level Telecaster soloing with a very clean tone.
“Honestly, I really only figured out my tone a few years back favouring the humbucker pickup sound of B.B. King, Albert King, Freddy King and Gary Moore,” he said. “I like a bass-heavy, high gain rather than anything too trebly. After you play around enough, you find that spot.”
What is also clear in Ingram’s playing is that he is no stranger to the Mississippi Delta country style of playing. When he straps on his acoustic for Something in the Dirt, it’s 2½ minutes of musical bliss. An acoustic session from this musician should be in the works.
“I was fortunate enough to attend the Delta Blues Museum arts and education program where I was taught about the foundations, the Son House’s, Robert Johnson’s and other greats,” he said. “Then at the Pinetop Perkins Workshop Experience summer camp, I gained an even deeper understanding of things like slide and his work with Muddy Waters. That really gave me a greater appreciation for the blues.”
Even growing up in a historic cultural centre like Clarksdale, Ingram admits that most of the people his age were far more engaged in hip-hop than the blues. He has also seen the difference in the appreciation for the style across the Atlantic. As in the 1960s, when legends such as Howlin’ Wolf and John Lee Hooker would provide the template for everyone from the Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac to Led Zeppelin, the U.K. remains a good spot to tour.
Ingram says this was one of the reasons his recent record was recorded in London.
“My manager had been urging me to put out a live album, because my studio albums may be great, but the live Kingfish experience is a whole different level,” he said. “I felt it was time to do that and the Garage in London had been on the books for awhile and I felt that was the perfect place and audience to record. I keep on trying to improve on the previous releases every time, to bring a different standard to the blues.”
An almost entirely improvising soloist, Ingram says adding keyboards to the band has gifted him the opportunity to focus on his singing and step back sometimes. Previously, he had toured as a three piece, playing rhythm and singing. He would love to expand into other directions moving forward and thinks the future looks bluesy.
“I think the blues is thriving right now, as I’m seeing more and more young people turning up at my shows in the past few years,” he said. “No, it’s not right where we’d like it to be. But the impression is that things keep getting better with bigger tours for me and others.”
Chicago-based indie blues label Alligator Records was founded by Bruce Iglauer in 1971 when he used his savings to record his favourite band, Hound Dog Taylor and the HouseRockers. It took another decade for the label to win its first Grammy award with Louisiana Zydeco legend Clifton Chenier’s I’m Here.
Many more seminal blues albums have followed making Alligator one of the key homes for the genre in all of its forms and styles. Here are five new releases on the label to check out in 2024
Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame inductee and Grammy nominated guitarist Elvin Bishop first recorded this song decrying political extremism on the 2020 release 100 Years of the Blues with harmonica icon Charlie Musselwhite. This one-off release was recorded to inspire folks to vote in the upcoming American election. It’s a killer version.
Chicago bluesman Brooks couldn’t have titled his latest album more accurately. The son of legendary guitarist Lonnie Brooks and brother to fellow soul rocker Wayne Baker Brooks plays classic, harder-edged amplified Chicago boogie.
The daughter of Texas guitarist Johnny Copeland, Shemekia has built a reputation as one of the best women blues singers in the biz. As her 12th album demonstrates, this is not exaggeration either. She is a fierce belter with sharp phrasing and fiery delivery.
Harmonica player Estrin has been blowing a distinctly slinky brand of Bay Area blues for decades, both as a member of Little Charlie and the Nightcats and, since guitarist Charlie Baty retired, under his own name. All about the wordplay and super-smooth playing. Lots of fun.
This live recording from 1976 has been cited as a favourite album by everyone from the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach to Ingram and many more. The reason is obvious: this is one of the greatest garage blues albums of all time and it’s getting a re-release this year. Essential listening.
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