Blues Phenom Christone 'Kingfish' Ingram Brings His 662 Live Juke Joint To Highmark Blues & Heritage Festival

Every so often, a few blues child prodigies like Lucky Peterson, Derek Trucks, and Johnny Lang, arrive on the scene and deliver much-needed excitement into the idiom, with the promise of their coming greatness. At only 23 years old, guitarist/vocalist Christone "Kingfish" Ingram has already fulfilled his potential and is one of the most impactful blues artists of his generation.

On Thursday, September 15, 2022, Ingram brings his 662: Live Juke Joint Tour to Pittsburgh's Highmark Blues and Heritage Festival, performing selections from his 2021 recording 662, which won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album, the Blues Music Award for Best Blues Album, and was number one on both the DownBeat Critics' Poll and the Living Blues Critics' Poll. The follow-up to his 2019 Grammy-nominated debut, Kingfish, 662 - the area code for Clarksdale, Mississippi, Ingram's birthplace - and, in his words is, "an ode to my roots, a nod to the area where I was born and raised."

Ingram was immersed in the blues by birthright. His mother, Princess Pride, who died in 2019, was a cousin to the late country icon, Charley Pride. His father showed him a Muddy Waters video when he was 5, and he was enrolled in The Delta Blues Museum's music and arts program in Clarksdale at the age of 8, starting on bass then moving to guitar, and was nicknamed Kingfish after the Amos & Andy character. He also sang gospel music in his mother's Baptist church.

Ingram became a professional musician at the age of 14, playing in the local and national blues venues, drawing praise for his unique amalgam of guitar styles that in his words included, "Robert Johnson, Sun House and Lightnin' Hopkins [who comes from the Texas style], B. B. King and the rock guys like Hendrix, Prince and [Funkadelic's] Eddie Hazel." Ingram also toured with the legendary octogenarian blues guitarist/ vocalist Buddy Guy.

Ingram's extensive media exposure includes his thrilling performance of B.B. King's "The Thrill is Gone" on Netflix's Luke Cage mini-series, performed with rap legend Rakim on NPR's Tiny Desk concert, worked with a number of blues artists including Eric Gales, the Tedeschi Trucks Band, and Keb Mo, and performed for First Lady Michelle Obama. Ingram has won a total of nine Living Blues Awards, and he was recently featured in a 5,000-word July 2022, Washington Post Magazine feature.

With his gifts and the promise of an even brighter future, Christone "Catfish" Ingram is poised to go where no blues musician has gone before.