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A music prodigy finds his calling: singing the blues

November 13, 2019 at 9:30 a.m. EST
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram will be performing in the D.C. area this month. (Rory Doyle)

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram is happy he’s got the blues. The 20-year-old singer-guitarist has found a calling preserving the genre that’s defined his young life.

“I feel like I have a duty to show that young black kids are still into the blues,” Ingram says. “I’ll forever love the blues because it’s something that’s in me.”

Ingram grew up in Clarksdale, Miss., not far from the crossroads where — as the legend goes — Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil. He took an interest in blues around 5, after his dad showed him a Muddy Waters documentary. By 11, he was in a music program at Clarksdale’s Delta Blues Museum and could play guitar, drums and bass. As a teenager, Ingram uploaded covers to YouTube, which led to a role in Netflix and Marvel’s “Luke Cage.” In May, he released his debut album, “Kingfish,” on which he trades solos with living blues legend Buddy Guy.

Ingram, who got his “Kingfish” nickname at 8 from a music teacher, mostly hews to tradition. There’s the familiar chug of 12-bar blues; copious guitar solos; and autobiographical, direct lyrics about life, love and hardship.

“You have to live up to what the guys before you brought,” he says. “You gotta respect that ground before you even talk about moving anything forward.”

Ingram takes baby steps in that direction by incorporating modern rock and soul elements on “Listen,” a collaboration with Keb’ Mo’. “In the future I want to do stuff with hip-hop,” says Ingram, who recently opened shows for indie rock band Vampire Weekend. “Hip-hop is pretty much [the] blues’ grandchild anyway.”

Ingram hasn’t been through the same struggles as his heroes, but that doesn’t mean he can’t sing the blues.

“I didn’t have to pick cotton, [I wasn’t] enslaved, my woman didn’t leave me or anything, but I’ve had some things in my life that I’ve been through where I had the blues,” Ingram says. “Did I have to go through all that? No. But I think I earned my right to play and sing the blues. It’s in me.”

Show: Nov. 21 at 7 p.m. (doors) at 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. 930.com. $20.