Christone "Kingfish" Ingram
Hard Road
*** out of *****
One of the hottest young guitar slinging bluesmen doing it today, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, takes a new path, moving from Alligator Records to releasing his first album on his own record label (Red Zero Records) as Hard Road deals with personal issues and evolution around blues, rock and soul splashes.
The Clarksdale, MS based artist comes from the home of the blues, but for this album finds the guitar virtuoso spreading his sound out, while slightly downplaying those roots. Working with three different producers, (Tom Hambridge, Patrick “Guitarboy” Hayes, and Nick Goldston) in three different cities (Los Angeles, Memphis and Nashville) with different studio support, Kingfish seems to be searching for slightly new influences, textures and styles.
The opening "Truth" hits quick with brief funky blues, electro keys and a tale of hard scrabble youth. In the song Ingram sings: "Some call it blues, some say it's rock 'n' roll/ I don't know what it is, it all comes from my soul" acknowledging the genre labeling is less important than the feelings behind the sounds.
His mixing of styles leads to meaty guitar riffs and metal like stomping drums for the heavy "S.S.S." while the bumping blues rock of "Hard To Love" displays some great organ work. Kingfish has always put his guitar playing out front, but his vocals are very strong and improving, on his soul tinged offerings like "Nothin' But Your Love" and "Clearly" the singing is top notch.
Kingfish is grappling with spirituality directly on a few efforts here. Lyrically both the hard rock leaning "Bad Like Me" and "Crosses" find Ingram discussing the church and iconography over some heavy rock focused riffs and drumming. Ingram travels south for a different kind of spirituality via some New Orleans based "Voodoo Charm" as he deals with some gris-gris inspired trickbags and hoodoo, complete with excellent revved up soloing.
The coolest offering is "Back To LA", a travelogue that details life on the road, but with a special place in his heart for Southern California. The song uses a hip-inspired beat, fantastic riffs and head bopping bass to excellent effect, acting as an album highpoint. "Standing on Business" is an interesting number where Kingfish hints at shifting to modern pop sounds but doesn't commit. This dabbling in various areas can only strengthen Ingram's overall style and sound as he matures as an artist. He is already cemented in the blues as he displays on the acoustic/harmonica closer "Memphis".
While Hard Road is perhaps not as strong as 662 (especially efforts like "Another Life Goes By"), or as guitar-centric/revved up as Live In London, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram still sounds firmly in command as things shift, grow and evolve for the 24 year old musician.
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