Kingfish Ingram: Reviving the Delta Blues sound for a new generation 

By: Grant Silver

On March 8th, 2022, I saw Kingfish Ingram and Rissi Palmer live at DPAC. The show had a crowd of around 600 which made for a small intimate show at this venue. Opening the show was Palmer, A Durham Native, who I had never heard of prior to this show. After doing some research, I found out she's a country artist who helps advocate for more black artists in the genre. Her sound was definitely identifiable as country but her incredible voice brought some R&B influence to the music which made it stand out for me. Some highlights from her set included, The slow building protest song “Seeds” with some excellent guitar and bass work, Her funky and beautiful cover of Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature'' and the Gorgeous acoustic “Summerville” about her grandmother’s house in Summerville, South Carolina.

 After a 30 minute intermission, Kingfish took the stage to a thunderous performance of his song, “ She Calls Me Kingfish”. Right away I could tell he was not your normal guitar player. From playing all of these crazy arpeggios to the tone of his telecaster, you could tell just how gifted and talented he was at his instrument. Now with how skilled Kingfish is, he needs a band that matches the same energy and these musicians definitely delivered. I especially loved the keyboardist who played keyboard with one hand and a Hammond organ with the other. The Hammond especially, gave the songs a whole new sound compared to the studio versions of these tunes I was used to hearing. A highlight of this set to me was the 10 plus minute version of “Your Time is Gonna Come” where he even walked around the audience and sat down in one of the chairs while playing a solo with his teeth. There was also the scorching performance of “Empty Promises” with some of the best live guitar playing I had ever heard. He also did a cover of “Purple Rain” where he brought Palmer back out to sing and ended the concert with a salute to Jimi Hendrix by performing his classic “Hey Joe”. Throughout the show, The small audience was very enthusiastic and a great time was had by all. If Kingfish is ever in your town, I would definitely recommend going especially if you are a fan of any guitar focused music.