Christone “Kingfish” Ingram @ Paradise Rock Club 10/1

Photo Credit: Jen Rosenstein

Review by Kainat Deo

Wednesday night, a queue spanning decades snaked around the corner of Harry Agganis Way: grizzled blues aficionados, enthusiastic Berklee students, and everybody in between awaited Grammy-winning Christone “Kingfish” Ingram’s sold-out performance. Currently on a worldwide tour promoting his newest release, “Hard Road,” Kingfish made his Boston stop at the Paradise Rock Club. On the smaller side, the venue buzzed with a tight-knit crowd, vibrant chatter, and boisterous laughter, creating an atmosphere beautifully reminiscent of traditional juke joints.

Hailing from Clarksdale, Mississippi, Ingram was brought up in the heart of the Delta region, known as the birthplace of the blues. From a young age, Ingram was surrounded by music, taking a moment during the show to introduce his drummer, Chris Black, and reveal that Black had played in the gospel group at his childhood church. The other members of Kingfish’s band included reserved yet rooted bassist Paul Rodgers, also from Mississippi, and DeShawn “D’Vibes” Alexander, a Denver native and Berklee graduate who Kingfish affectionately referred to as being from “the mother-ship, not the other-ship.” 

The quartet put on an unbelievably energetic show, engaging with the audience in a uniquely interactive manner that left no corner of the venue feeling excluded from the Kingfish experience. The show began with “Midnight Heat,” an electrically charged and funk-infused track that has only ever been released as a live version on his album “Live In London.” With sweat dripping from his furrowed brow, Ingram’s focus throughout the concert emphasized a dedication to the art of live performance—a defining trait of the blues genre.

From the first string plucked, Kingfish embarked on a musical journey that took the audience through a gyre of emotion. After playing a few upbeat tracks from “Hard Road,” Ingram performed “Rock & Roll,” a song dedicated to his mother, Princess Latrell Pride Ingram, who passed away in 2019. During this tribute, Kingfish became melancholic, his playing both powerful and gentle, effortlessly encouraging the audience to center themselves and join him in reflection. Kingfish briefly discussed the vital role his mother played throughout his upbringing, working tirelessly as a single parent to support him in his musical endeavors. The chorus of the “Rock & Roll” is as follows: “She made a deal with the angels and then never let go / So I could sell my soul to rock and roll.” Kingfish has expanded on his lyrics in interviews, elucidating how these lines directly reference blues history: the story has always been told that Robert Johnson, a Blues legend, made a pact with the devil at the Mississippi crossroads in the heart of the Delta region, obtaining immense guitar talent thereafter.

In another instance of redefining the atmosphere, Ingram sent the band backstage and swapped his distinctly cherry red electric guitar for a simple acoustic. Kingfish invited a fiddler friend from home on stage, performing a raw and authentic rendition of  “Been Here Before,” from his self-titled debut album. Then came a few more tracks from “Hard Road,” including “Bad Like Me,” unquestionably the evening’s standout song. 

Roughly 30 seconds into “Bad Like Me,” Kingfish dropped his guitar and disappeared from the stage entirely, leaving Black, Rodgers, and Alexander to continue on without him. Eventually, it became clear that this was an opportunity for the band to excel in its own element, as Alexander disconnected his keyboard from his stand and put the strap over his neck, waltzing to the center of the stage. Incredibly receptive to this change, the audience seemed to become one with the music in this moment. If you have seen Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners,” in which Kingfish is featured as a musical contributor, it was as if Smoke & Stack’s juke joint had been transposed to Boston. Only when Alexander pointed to the balcony did heads swivel in unison to see that Kingfish had snuck up to be among the audience. He then delivered a five-minute guitar solo, an elaborate extension of what is found on the studio recording of “Bad Like Me.”

After an hour and a half of unwavering performance, Ingram and his band bid their farewell to the crowd. Alexander, a Berklee graduate, emphasized his excitement to be back on old stomping grounds, an energy that was matched by the cheers of Berklee students within the crowd. Naturally, as soon as the stage was empty, a resounding chant echoed throughout the venue: “Kingfish! Kingfish! Kingfish! Encore! Encore!” What showgoers did not know was that an encore was already planned, cleverly built into the setlist. Kingfish knows his crowd.

Alexander was the first to reemerge from behind the stage, delivering a playful and funky keyboard solo. Then came Black, Rodgers, Ingram, and Mathias Lattin, a recent Berklee graduate, up-and-coming Houston blues artist and the show’s opener. Lattin performed with what can only be described as absolute intensity, dubbed “Jimi Junior” by a consistently vocal audience member. Together, Kingfish and Lattin closed the evening with an ebullient and dynamic performance of  “Long Distance Woman,” off Kingfish’s 2021 release “662.” By the end of it all, smiles spread from ear to ear as feet exhausted from stomping shuffled out of the venue. Christone “Kingfish” Ingram’s performance could convert an individual ignorant of blues into a diehard devotee, as it was nothing less than all around spectacular.