News


CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE SINGLE, BLUES GAVE ME A RIDE, OUT MAY 6, 2022
5/6/2022

Mississippi-born, Memphis-raised, Grammy Award-winning music legend Charlie Musselwhite will release Blues Gave Me A Ride, the first single from his upcoming album, Mississippi Son, on Friday, May 6. “Blues tells the truth in a world that’s full of lies,” Musselwhite sings in the original song -- on which he also plays guitar and harmonica -- and is at once telling his own story and plainly summing up the genre’s timelessness. Blues Gave Me A Ride made its worldwide premier on XM/Sirius Radio's B.B. King's Bluesville station on Friday, April 29. Mississippi Son will be released on Friday, June 3 and available on both CD and translucent blue vinyl LP. 

CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE SINGLE, BLUES GAVE ME A RIDE, OUT MAY 6, 2022


Song Is First Single From New Album Mississippi Son
Available On CD And Translucent Blue Vinyl On June 3

Album Features Musselwhite's guitar work on every track.  
 
    


Charlie Musselwhite breathes passion.
DownBeat

Taste, restraint and power. He’s one of the best, and as a bluesman, he’s as real as they come. 
The San Francisco Chronicle

Superb, original and compelling…Charlie Musselwhite, with unabashed excellence, sets the standard for blues.  
Rolling Stone

Mississippi-born, Memphis-raised, Grammy Award-winning music legend Charlie Musselwhite will release Blues Gave Me A Ride, the first single from his upcoming album, Mississippi Son, on Friday, May 6. “Blues tells the truth in a world that’s full of lies,” Musselwhite sings in the original song -- on which he also plays guitar and harmonica -- and is at once telling his own story and plainly summing up the genre’s timelessness. Blues Gave Me A Ride made its worldwide premier on XM/Sirius Radio's B.B. King's Bluesville station on Friday, April 29. Mississippi Son will be released on Friday, June 3 and available on both CD and translucent blue vinyl LP. 
 
Now, with Mississippi Son, Musselwhite has come full circle, returning home to Mississippi after decades in Memphis, Chicago, San Francisco and points in between. Amalgamating all he’s learned and absorbed throughout his years of worldwide touring, Musselwhite imparts sage wisdom in every song he writes, sings and performs. “Blues tells the truth in a world that’s full of lies,” he intones in Blues Gave Me A Ride, at once telling his own story and plainly summing up the genre’s timelessness. Through his evocative vocals, masterful harmonica playing, and note-perfect Southern country blues guitar, Charlie Musselwhite, on Mississippi Son, leans forward and delivers the blues’ honest truth. 

Charlie Musselwhite is renowned worldwide as a master harmonica player, a seasoned, truth-telling vocalist and an original songwriter rooted deep within the blues tradition. As many of his fans know, he’s also a country blues guitarist of great depth, warmth and subtlety. On each of Mississippi Son’s 14 songs, including eight powerfully stark originals, Musselwhite’s straight-from-the-soul vocals and deep blues harmonica playing are the perfect foil to his deceptively simple, hypnotic guitar work, which he features on every track.

Having recently moved back to Mississippi from northern California, Musselwhite recorded Mississippi Son in Clarksdale, right in the heart of the Delta. His honest, soulful vocals, like his every-note-matters harmonica playing and idiosyncratic guitar work, overflow with hard-earned authenticity and lasting emotional intensity. Musselwhite calls his blues, “secular spiritual music,” a sound he’s been perfecting since he, as a young teenager, played his first E7 chord on his Supertone acoustic guitar. Upon hearing and feeling the chord’s blue note, the future blues master thought, “I have to have more of that.”

Charlie Musselwhite doesn’t just sing and play the blues; he is, in every sense of the word, a bluesman. Growing up, he not only learned the music first-hand from many of the genre’s most influential artists, he also absorbed the lifestyle. “It’s an attitude,” Musselwhite says of playing the blues. “A way of living life.” Musselwhite's life story reads like a classic blues song: born in Mississippi, raised in Memphis and schooled on the South Side of Chicago. A groundbreaking recording artist since the 1960s, Musselwhite has never stopped creating trailblazing music while remaining firmly rooted in the blues.

Over the years, Charlie has released nearly 40 albums on a variety of labels, his exploratory recordings including straight blues but often mixing in elements of jazz, gospel, Tex-Mex, Cuban and other world musics. Four of those albums—1990’s Ace Of Harps, 1991’s Signature, 1994’s In My Time, and 2010’s The Well—were released on Alligator Records and remain among his best-selling titles.

In 2020, Musselwhite joined up with his friend Elvin Bishop and released the Grammy-nominated, Blues Music Award-winning 100 Years Of Blues on Alligator. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Blues Chart. DownBeat named it the Best Blues Album Of The Year. It was named the #3 Best Blues Album of 2021 by UK tastemaker magazine MOJO, who declared, “These are exquisite harmonica-guitar duets like Muddy Waters and Little Walter, or Johnny Shines and Big Walter Horton…mature, masterly, endlessly rewarding.”

In addition to his own albums, Musselwhite has been featured on recordings by Tom Waits, Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper, John Lee Hooker, Bonnie Raitt, The Blind Boys of Alabama, INXS, Cyndi Lauper, and many others. He was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall Of Fame in 2010, has been nominated for twelve Grammy Awards (winning one) and has won numerous Living Blues Awards and Blues Music Awards. The Chicago Tribune says his music is “imaginative and stunning…utterly convincing.”
 
Now, with Mississippi Son, Musselwhite has come full circle, returning home to Mississippi after decades in Memphis, Chicago, San Francisco and points in between. Amalgamating all he’s learned and absorbed throughout his years of worldwide touring, Musselwhite imparts sage wisdom in every song he writes, sings and performs. Through his evocative vocals, masterful harmonica playing, and note-perfect Southern country blues guitar, Charlie Musselwhite, on Mississippi Son, leans forward and delivers the blues’ honest truth. 

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FOUR ALLIGATOR ARTISTS RECEIVE SEVEN BLUES MUSIC AWARDS
5/6/2022

On Thursday, May 5, 2022, the Blues Foundation announced the winners of the 43rd Annual Blues Music Awards. A total of four Alligator Records artists received seven awards. Leading all artists with three wins is guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Tommy Castro, who takes home (for the third time in his career) the coveted B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year Award, the Album Of The Year Award (for Tommy Castro Presents A Bluesman Came To Town) and Blues Band Of The Year for Tommy Castro & The Painkillers.

FOUR ALLIGATOR ARTISTS RECEIVE SEVEN BLUES MUSIC AWARDS

Tommy Castro Leads All Artists With Three Wins:
B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year, Album Of The Year and Band Of The Year

Christone "Kingfish" Ingram  Wins Two Awards:
Contemporary Male Blues Artist And Contemporary Blues Album

Selwyn Birchwood Wins Song Of The Year

Curtis Salgado Wins Soul Blues Male Artist


On Thursday, May 5, 2022, the Blues Foundation announced the winners of the 43rd Annual Blues Music Awards. A total of four Alligator Records artists received seven awards. Leading all artists with three wins is guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Tommy Castro, who takes home (for the third time in his career) the coveted B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year Award, the Album Of The Year Award (for Tommy Castro Presents A Bluesman Came To Town) and Blues Band Of The Year for Tommy Castro & The Painkillers.

Young blues guitar phenomenon and Grammy Award-winner Christone "Kingfish" Ingram won the awards for Contemporary Male Blues Artist Of The Year and Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year for 662. In his short career, Ingram has been nominated for nine Blues Music Awards and has won them all.

Guitarist/lap-steel master Selwyn Birchwood won the highly-competitive award for Song Of The Year for his original I'd Climb Mountains from his Alligator album, Living In A Burning House.

Soul/blues vocalist Curtis Salgado won, for the second consecutive year, the award for Soul Blues Male Artist Of The Year.

The awards ceremony was held in Memphis, Tennessee at the Renasant Convention Center. The full list of winners can be found here. Alligator artists and their awards follow:

 

B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year

Album Of The Year: Tommy Castro Presents A Bluesman Came To Town

Band Of The Year: Tommy Castro & The Painkillers 



Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year: 662

Contemporary Blues Male Artist Of The Year 





Song Of The Year: I'd Climb Mountains (written by Selwyn Birchwood) 







Soul Blues Male Artist Of The Year 





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TEN ALLIGATOR ARTISTS RECEIVE 16 LIVING BLUES READERS' POLL AWARD NOMINATIONS
5/2/2022

Living Blues magazine, in its May 2022 issue, announced the nominees for the 2021 Living Blues Readers' Poll Awards. This year, ten Alligator artists received a total of 16 nominations.

TEN ALLIGATOR ARTISTS RECEIVE 16 LIVING BLUES READERS' POLL AWARD NOMINATIONS

Christone "Kingfish" Ingram Leads All Artists With Four Nominations,
Followed By Shemekia Copeland With Three and Chris Cain With Two

Tommy Castro, Tinsley Ellis, Selwyn Birchwood, Marcia Ball, Billy Branch,
Rick Estrin And Charlie Musselwhite Each Receive One Nomination


Living Blues magazine, in its May 2022 issue, announced the nominees for the 2021 Living Blues Readers' Poll Awards. This year, ten Alligator artists received a total of 16 nominations. Leading all artists with four nominations is Grammy Award-winning guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Christone "Kingfish" Ingram. He is nominated for Blues Artist Of The Year (Male), Best Live Performer, Most Outstanding Musician - Guitar, and Best Blues Album for 662. Award-winning vocalist Shemekia Copeland received nominations for Blues Artist Of The Year (Female), Most Outstanding Blues Singer and Best Live Performer. West Coast guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Chris Cain received nominations for Blues Artist Of The Year (Male) and Best Blues Album for Raisin' Cain.

Guitarist/lap-steel master Selwyn Birchwood, Southern blues rocker Tinsley Ellis, roots rock guitarist Tommy Castro, Texas pianist/vocalist Marcia Ball, and harmonica masters Charlie Musselwhite, Rick Estrin and Billy Branch each received one nomination.

Living Blues fans may vote at www.livingblues.com before June 15, 2022. Alligator artists and their nominations follow:

Blues Artist Of The Year (Male)
Best Blues Album: 662
Best Live Performer
Most Outstanding Musician - Guitar





Blues Artist Of The Year (Female)
Most Outstanding Blues Singer
Best Live Performer 





Blues Artist Of The Year (Male)
Best Blues Album: Raisin' Cain 




 

Blues Artist Of The Year (Male) 








Most Outstanding Musician - Guitar 








Best Blues Album: Living In A Burning House 








Most Outstanding Musician - Keyboards 








Most Outstanding Musician - Harmonica 








Most Outstanding Musician - Harmonica








Most Outstanding Musician - Harmonica

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SHEMEKIA COPELAND TO PERFORM FROM THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY HALL TO CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL JAZZ DAY ON APRIL 30, 2022
4/26/2022

Celebrated blues and roots singer and Alligator Records recording artist Shemekia Copeland, backed by jazz giants Marcus Miller, Mark Whitfield, Brian Blade, Leonard Brown and John Beasley, will perform two songs as part of the Global Concert for International Jazz Day to be broadcast on April 30, 2022.

SHEMEKIA COPELAND TO PERFORM FROM THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY HALL TO CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL JAZZ DAY ON APRIL 30, 2022


Copeland Joins Jazz Giants Marcus Miller, Mark Whitfield And Others For
One-Of-A-Kind Performance To Stream Worldwide
  

    


“Shemekia Copeland is the greatest blues singer of her generation.”

The Washington Post

"Shemekia Copeland has established herself as one of the leading blues artists of our time."

NPR Music

“Copeland provides a soundtrack for contemporary America...powerful, ferocious, clear-eyed and hopeful...She’s in such control of her voice that she can scream at injustices before she soothes with loving hope. It sends shivers up your spine.”

Living Blues

Shemekia Copeland is an antidote to artifice. She is a commanding presence, a powerhouse vocalist delivering the truth.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer


Celebrated blues and roots singer and Alligator Records recording artist Shemekia Copeland, backed by jazz giants Marcus Miller, Mark Whitfield, Brian Blade, Leonard Brown and John Beasley, will perform two songs as part of the Global Concert for International Jazz Day to be broadcast on April 30, 2022. Copeland, singing from the United Nations General Assembly Hall, will perform Walk Until I Ride,  from her Grammy-nominated 2020 album Uncivil War, and Ain't Got Time For Hate from 2018's groundbreaking America's Child. The concert, featuring artists from around the globe, will stream to a worldwide audience via UNTV, UNESCO, US State Department, on Facebook and on YouTube. The event will be broadcast on PBS Television in 2023.


The 2022 Global Concert will take place at United Nations Headquarters in New York and is scheduled to worldwide webcast at 5:00pm Easter time. With Herbie Hancock serving as host and Artistic Director and John Beasley as Musical Director, the program is set to showcase the extraordinary potential of jazz as a medium for peaceful collaboration and constructive dialogue. Participating artists will include vocalists Shemekia CopelandJosé JamesYoun Sun Nah (Republic of Korea), Gregory PorterAlune Wade (Senegal) and Lizz Wright; pianists Joey Alexander (Indonesia), Helio Alves (Brazil), Laurent de Wilde (France), Hiromi (Japan), Ray Lema (Democratic Republic of Congo), and Tarek Yamani (Lebanon); drummers Terri Lyne Carrington and Brian Blade; bassists James GenusMarcus Miller and Linda May Han Oh (Australia); saxophonists Ravi ColtraneDavid Sanborn and Erena Terakubo (Japan); guitarist Mark Whitfield and trumpeters Randy Brecker and Jeremy Pelt, among others. Also joining the global ensemble will be harmonicist Grégoire Maret (Switzerland), harpist Edmar Castañeda (Colombia), percussionist Pedrito Martínez(Cuba) and clarinetist Kinan Azmeh (Syria).

According to Copeland, "Blues played an enormously big part in the creation of jazz from the beginning. I’m just happy that my blues gets to play a small part in celebrating International Jazz Day. And I am personally jazzed to be doing it at the UN.”

When Copeland first broke on the scene in 1998 with her Alligator Records debut Turn The Heat Up, she instantly became a blues and R&B force to be reckoned with. With each subsequent release, her music has evolved. She continues to broaden her musical vision, melding blues with more rootsy, Americana sounds, and singing about the world around her, shining light in dark places with confidence and well-timed humor.

In addition to her Grammy Award nomination (her fourth), Copeland's groundbreaking 2020 release Uncivil War was named the 2020 Blues Album Of The Year by both DownBeat and MOJO magazines. Copeland received three 2020 Blues Music Awards, including the B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year and Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year for Uncivil War. Additionally, she won both Living Blues magazine's Critics' and Readers' Awards for Album Of The Year and Blues Artist Of The Year (Female). Internationally, she won the UK Blues Award for International Blues Artist Of The Year. 

Since the release of Uncivil War, Copeland's profile has continued to grow. She was the subject of a Washington Post Sunday magazine story and appeared on both NPR's Weekend Edition and Here And Now. She has previously performed on PBS’s Austin City Limits and was the subject of a six-minute feature on the PBS News Hour. And NPR's Jazz Night In America aired an hour-long program featuring interviews with Copeland and others, along with music recorded at Dizzy's Club in New York City and at the 2021 Exit Zero Jazz Festival. Currently, Copeland can be heard hosting her own popular daily blues radio show on SiriusXM’s Bluesville.

The Chicago Tribune’s famed jazz critic Howard Reich says, “Shemekia Copeland is the greatest female blues vocalist working today. She pushes the genre forward, confronting racism, hate, xenophobia and other perils of our time. Regardless of subject matter, though, there’s no mistaking the majesty of Copeland’s instrument, nor the ferocity of her delivery. In effect, Copeland reaffirms the relevance of the blues.” 

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BLUESMAN DAVID "GUITAR SHORTY" KEARNEY SEPTEMBER 8, 1934 - APRIL 20, 2022
4/21/2022

Award-winning master bluesman David Kearney — known and beloved by fans worldwide as Guitar Shorty — died on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 in Los Angeles, California, of natural causes. He was 87.

BLUESMAN DAVID "GUITAR SHORTY" KEARNEY SEPTEMBER 8, 1934 - APRIL 20, 2022


Internationally Touring Artist Recorded Eleven Solo Albums
Over Seven Decade Career
Toured With Ray Charles, Guitar Slim and Sam Cooke  
    

Award-winning master bluesman David Kearney — known and beloved by fans worldwide as Guitar Shorty — died on Wednesday, April 20, 2022 in Los Angeles, California, of natural causes. He was 87. Credited with influencing both Jimi Hendrix and Buddy Guy, Shorty electrified audiences worldwide with his unpredictable, slashing guitar playing, gruff vocals and supercharged live shows, where he would often do back flips and somersaults while playing. The Chicago Reader said, "Guitar Shorty is a battle-scarred hard-ass. He is among the highest-energy blues entertainers on the scene." Billboard said he played "blistering, modern blues-rock, bristling with galvanizing guitar and forceful vocals."

While still in his early 20s, Shorty toured with blues and R&B luminaries including Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, B.B. King, Guitar Slim and T-Bone Walker. Over the first 30 years of his career, he recorded only a handful of singles for a variety of labels and an LP for a small British label. He released ten full-length solo recordings since then, many of which received massive critical and popular acclaim. His renowned live performances kept him constantly in demand all over the world. MOJO magazine noted his "hard-hitting, unrelenting intensity" and "incendiary guitar playing." Paste said, "He's a guitar god, and he simply unleashes one great solo after another."

Guitar Shorty was born David William Kearney on September 8, 1934 in Houston, Texas and raised in Kissimmee, Florida by his grandmother. He began playing guitar as a young boy, excited by the sounds of B.B. King, Guitar Slim, T-Bone Walker and John Lee Hooker. After a move to Tampa when he was 17, the young Kearney won a slot as a featured guitarist and vocalist in the locally popular 18-piece orchestra led by Walter Johnson. Being younger—and shorter—than the rest of the band, a club owner bestowed the name Guitar Shorty on him, and it stuck. After a particularly strong performance in Florida, the great Willie Dixon, who was in the audience, approached Shorty.  A few weeks later Shorty was in Chicago and, backed by Otis Rush on second guitar, he cut his first single for Chicago’s famed Cobra Records in 1957.
 
Shorty’s fortunes continued to rise when the legendary Ray Charles hired him as a featured member of his road band. While touring Florida with Ray, Shorty connected with guitarist/vocalist Guitar Slim, famous for his hit Things That I Used To Do as well as for his wild stage antics. Shorty was offered the opening slot on Slim's upcoming tour, and Shorty jumped at the chance. Inspired by Slim, Shorty began incorporating some of the older artist’s athletic showmanship into his own performances. Before long, Guitar Shorty was doing somersaults and flips on stage. He next joined Sam Cooke’s touring band and eventually settled in Los Angeles. He gigged locally and recorded three 45s for the Los Angeles-based Pull Records label in 1959.
 
Shorty moved to Seattle in 1960 and eventually met Jimi Hendrix through mutual friends. Hendrix loved Shorty’s playing, and confessed that in 1961 and 1962 he would go AWOL from his Army base in order to catch Shorty’s area performances, and to pick up licks and ideas. According to Shorty, “Jimi told me the reason he started setting his guitar on fire was because he couldn’t do the back flips like I did.”
 
Moving  to Los Angeles in 1971, Shorty opened for all the great blues stars who passed through town, including Little Milton, B.B. King, Lowell Fulson, Johnny Copeland and T-Bone Walker. In 1978 he even performed on (and won) The Gong Show, playing guitar while standing on his head. He appeared, playing himself, in the 1990 Tommy Chong film Far Out Man. A major story in Living Blues magazine brought him even more attention and led to his first British tour in 1991. While there, he cut his first full-length album.
 
Guitar Shorty made three albums for New Orleans-based Black Top label during the 1990s, followed by one for for Evidence Records. The success of the albums led Shorty on multiple barnstorming tours across the U.S. and around the world, including the UK, Europe and Japan. Appearances at major festivals like The Monterey Bay Blues Festival, The San Francisco Blues Festival, The Chicago Blues Festival and The King Biscuit Blues Festival brought him to larger and larger audiences.
 
In 2004, Guitar Shorty joined Alligator Records, releasing three of his best-selling records: 2004's Watch Your Back, 2006's We The People and 2010's Bare Knuckle. Fans, radio programmers and critics shouted their support. Living Blues called Shorty “a blues rock original [who plays] screaming, empowered guitar and sings with streetwise defiance.” Texas Music Magazine said, “Axebuster extraordinaire Guitar Shorty is an old-school guitar showman. He plays with technique and flash, without ever sacrificing the passion. He’s a blues-rock hero.”

Shorty continued to tour and perform well into his 80s. His most recent album was 2019's Trying To Find My Way Back, produced by legendary musician Jerry "Swamp Dogg" Williams.

Guitar Shorty is survived by his sister Gertrude Kearney Williams, his four children: Sean Kearney, Edmond Kearney, Tamara Kearney and Rodney Kearney, and nieces Sheena Kearney and Estalita Williams.

Funeral  arrangements are pending. 

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CHRISTONE "KINGFISH" INGRAM TO MAKE NATIONAL TELEVISION PERFORMANCE DEBUT ON CBS SATURDAY MORNING ON APRIL 16
4/12/2022

Grammy Award-winning young blues sensation Christone "Kingfish" Ingram will make his national television performance debut on CBS Saturday Morning on Saturday, April 16. He will perform three songs, two of which will be broadcast nationwide. The third will air in 40% of markets and will join the other two online at the CBS Saturday Sessions website. Additionally, Ingram opens up to host Michelle Miller in an in-depth, personal one-on-one interview.

CHRISTONE "KINGFISH" INGRAM TO MAKE NATIONAL TELEVISION PERFORMANCE DEBUT ON CBS SATURDAY MORNING ON APRIL 16


In Addition To Performing Three Songs,
Kingfish Will Be Featured In An In-depth Interview Segment
 

    

Grammy Award Winner:
Best Contemporary Blues Album: 662

“Exceptional album...astonishing creativity.” 662 #1 Blues Album Of 2021   —MOJO

“Ingram plays guitar with dramatic, searing tone and sure-handed authority. And that's just in the studio; he's even scarier live.”
—NPR Music 

Christone "Kingfish" Ingram has already made his mark as one of the best, and undoubtedly most exciting, blues guitarists in the world.
—Guitar World
 


Grammy Award-winning young blues sensation Christone "Kingfish" Ingram will make his national television performance debut on CBS Saturday Morning on Saturday, April 16. He will perform three songs, two of which will be broadcast nationwide. The third will air in 40% of markets and will join the other two online at the CBS Saturday Sessions website. Additionally, Ingram opens up to host Michelle Miller in an in-depth, personal one-on-one interview.

"I’m thrilled to make my network television debut on CBS Saturday Morning," said Ingram. “Between this national TV opportunity and winning my first Grammy, April has been a really exciting month for me and my music.”

CBS Saturday Morning caught up with Kingfish as he entered New York's legendary Apollo Theater, signed the famous "signature wall," and made his headlining debut at the historic venue. Ingram, whose current Alligator Records release, 662, just received the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album, is currently headlining a nationwide theater tour, entitled 662: Juke Joint Live. He'll appear next at the massive Byron Bay Bluesfest in Australia, followed by more concerts in the U.S. in April and May. He then heads to the UK and Europe, with dates in England, Scotland, the Netherlands, France and Italy in June and July.

The media has embraced Ingram, hailing him for his incendiary guitar playing, soulful vocals and memorable songwriting. Rolling Stone declared, “Kingfish is one of the most exciting young guitarists in years, with a sound that encompasses B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix and Prince.” Living Blues said, "Ingram crafts solos that reflect a mind as quick as his fingers—each note sounds right, each string-bend and grunge-flecked wail appropriate in its place. He sings in as soulful and resonant a voice as he’s ever summoned, and he shows himself to be a lyric craftsman of depth and substance." The album made its world debut on XM/Sirius Radio's B.B. King's Bluesville. Living Blues' annual Radio Airplay Chart named 662 as the most-played record on blues radio during 2021.

According to Ingram, "662 is an ode to my roots, a nod to the area where I was born and raised. The title track, 662, encompasses how a small corner of the earth influenced my view of life and music. It also points to the growth I have had since my debut album. As much as I have been fortunate to get 'Outside Of This Town' (the title of his breakout single from his 2019 Grammy-nominated debut album, Kingfish), I do want people to know that 'The 662' will always be a major part of who I am."

On 662, Ingram creates contemporary blues that speaks to his generation and beyond, delivering the full healing power of the music. No Depression calls Ingram, “a young bluesman with an ancient soul and a large presence in the here-and-now.” Relix calls Kingfish "a truly new voice in blues music ."

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BLUES ICON CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE TO RELEASE MISSISSIPPI SON ON JUNE 3
4/7/2022

Mississippi-born, Memphis-raised, Grammy Award-winning music legend Charlie Musselwhite will release Mississippi Son, his new Alligator Records CD and LP, on Friday, June 3.

BLUES ICON CHARLIE MUSSELWHITE TO RELEASE MISSISSIPPI SON ON JUNE 3


Album Features Musselwhite's Guitar Playing On Every Song
First Single, Blues Gave Me A Ride, Out On May 6 
 
    


Charlie Musselwhite breathes passion.
DownBeat

Taste, restraint and power. He’s one of the best, and as a bluesman, he’s as real as they come. 
The San Francisco Chronicle

Superb, original and compelling…Charlie Musselwhite, with unabashed excellence, sets the standard for blues.  
Rolling Stone

Mississippi-born, Memphis-raised, Grammy Award-winning music legend Charlie Musselwhite will release Mississippi Son, his new Alligator Records CD and LP, on Friday, June 3. Musselwhite is renowned worldwide as a master harmonica player, a seasoned, truth-telling vocalist and an original songwriter rooted deep within the blues tradition. As many of his fans know, he’s also a country blues guitarist of great depth, warmth and subtlety. On each of Mississippi Son’s 14 songs, including eight powerfully stark originals, Musselwhite’s straight-from-the-soul vocals and deep blues harmonica playing are the perfect foil to his deceptively simple, hypnotic guitar work, which he features on every track. Mississippi Son's first single, the autobiographical original Blues Gave Me A Ride, will be released on Friday, May 6.

Having recently moved back to Mississippi from northern California, Musselwhite recorded Mississippi Son in Clarksdale, right in the heart of the Delta. His honest, soulful vocals, like his every-note-matters harmonica playing and idiosyncratic guitar work, overflow with hard-earned authenticity and lasting emotional intensity. Musselwhite calls his blues, “secular spiritual music,” a sound he’s been perfecting since he, as a young teenager, played his first E7 chord on his Supertone acoustic guitar. Upon hearing and feeling the chord’s blue note, the future blues master thought, “I have to have more of that.”

Charlie Musselwhite doesn’t just sing and play the blues; he is, in every sense of the word, a bluesman. Growing up, he not only learned the music first-hand from many of the genre’s most influential artists, he also absorbed the lifestyle. “It’s an attitude,” Musselwhite says of playing the blues. “A way of living life.” Musselwhite's life story reads like a classic blues song: born in Mississippi, raised in Memphis and schooled on the South Side of Chicago. A groundbreaking recording artist since the 1960s, Musselwhite has never stopped creating trailblazing music while remaining firmly rooted in the blues.

Over the years, Charlie has released nearly 40 albums on a variety of labels, his exploratory recordings including straight blues but often mixing in elements of jazz, gospel, Tex-Mex, Cuban and other world musics. Four of those albums—1990’s Ace Of Harps, 1991’s Signature, 1994’s In My Time, and 2010’s The Well—were released on Alligator Records and remain among his best-selling titles.

In 2020, Musselwhite joined up with his friend Elvin Bishop and released the Grammy-nominated, Blues Music Award-winning 100 Years Of Blues on Alligator. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Blues Chart. DownBeat named it the Best Blues Album Of The Year. It was named the #3 Best Blues Album of 2021 by UK tastemaker magazine MOJO, who declared, “These are exquisite harmonica-guitar duets like Muddy Waters and Little Walter, or Johnny Shines and Big Walter Horton…mature, masterly, endlessly rewarding.”

In addition to his own albums, Musselwhite has been featured on recordings by Tom Waits, Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper, John Lee Hooker, Bonnie Raitt, The Blind Boys of Alabama, INXS, Cyndi Lauper, and many others. He was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Blues Hall Of Fame in 2010, has been nominated for twelve Grammy Awards (winning one) and has won numerous Living Blues Awards and Blues Music Awards. The Chicago Tribune says his music is “imaginative and stunning…utterly convincing.”
 
Now, with Mississippi Son, Musselwhite has come full circle, returning home to Mississippi after decades in Memphis, Chicago, San Francisco and points in between. Amalgamating all he’s learned and absorbed throughout his years of worldwide touring, Musselwhite imparts sage wisdom in every song he writes, sings and performs. “Blues tells the truth in a world that’s full of lies,” he intones in Blues Gave Me A Ride, at once telling his own story and plainly summing up the genre’s timelessness. Through his evocative vocals, masterful harmonica playing, and note-perfect Southern country blues guitar, Charlie Musselwhite, on Mississippi Son, leans forward and delivers the blues’ honest truth. 

 

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CHRISTONE "KINGFISH" INGRAM'S 662 WINS GRAMMY AWARD FOR BEST CONTEMPORARY BLUES ALBUM
4/4/2022

Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, 23, the rising-star blues guitarist, songwriter and vocalist from Clarksdale, Mississippi, won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album for his sophomore release, 662.

CHRISTONE "KINGFISH" INGRAM'S 662 WINS GRAMMY AWARD FOR BEST CONTEMPORARY BLUES ALBUM


This Is Ingram's First Grammy Win And His Second Nomination 
    


Christone "Kingfish" Ingram represents the next generation of great American blues artists.
—PBS NewsHour

Christone "Kingfish" Ingram has already made his mark as one of the best, and undoubtedly most exciting, blues guitarists in the world.
—Guitar World
 

#1 Blues Blues Album of 2021  —MOJO

Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, 23, the rising-star blues guitarist, songwriter and vocalist from Clarksdale, Mississippi, won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album for his sophomore release, 662. The award, Ingram’s first-ever Grammy, was presented at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday, April 3. Ingram’s debut album, 2019’s Kingfish, had previously received a Grammy Award nomination.

According to Ingram, “This a ‘wow’ moment. I didn’t expect to hear my name called, so I’m truly grateful that the recording academy honored me and my 662 album. I truly appreciate my family, my manager Ric Whitney, my co-writer and producer Tom Hambridge, my label Alligator Records, and a whole host of folks who helped not only make my sophomore album possible, but also made my Grammy Sunday a dream come true. As much as this is for me, it’s also for my late mom, Princess Pride, and for Mississippi.”

Ingram has just completed the first half of his nationwide 662 Juke Joint Live Tour, headlining at major theaters, including his debut at New York's famed Apollo Theater. He'll perform at the massive Byron Bay Bluesfest in Australia in early April, followed by more concerts in the U.S. in April and May. He then heads to the UK and Europe, with dates in England, Scotland, the Netherlands, France and Italy in June and July.
 
The media has embraced Ingram, hailing him for his incendiary guitar playing, soulful vocals and memorable songwriting. Rolling Stone declared, “Kingfish is one of the most exciting young guitarists in years, with a sound that encompasses B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix and Prince.” Living Blues said, "Ingram crafts solos that reflect a mind as quick as his fingers—each note sounds right, each string-bend and grunge-flecked wail appropriate in its place. He sings in as soulful and resonant a voice as he’s ever summoned, and he shows himself to be a lyric craftsman of depth and substance." The album made its world debut on XM/Sirius Radio's B.B. King's Bluesville. Living Blues' annual Radio Airplay Chart named 662 as the most-played record on blues radio during 2021. 

Click the image to see Christone "Kingfish" Ingram's acceptance speech

 

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CAROLYN WONDERLAND WINS TWO AUSTIN MUSIC AWARDS
3/9/2022

Texas guitar slinger, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Carolyn Wonderland won two top 2021/2022 Austin Music Awards.

CAROLYN WONDERLAND WINS TWO AUSTIN MUSIC AWARDS


Takes Awards For Best Blues Artist And Best Guitarist


Every song showcases Wonderland’s never-waste-a-note guitar work and warm, soaring vocals. There may not be a better album this season.
—Living Blues

Wonderland's astonishing playing and soulful, sophisticated singing place this record above all others in her catalog.
AllMusic.com

Rich, bluesy, raspy, lush-toned vocals…soulful, skillful guitar playing...down-and-dirty, gospel-infused [and] rollicking.
Guitar World

#7 Best Blues Album Of 2021— MOJO


On Tuesday, March 8, Texas guitar slinger, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Carolyn Wonderland won two top 2021/2022 Austin Music Awards. In addition to winning for Best Blues Artist, Wonderland took home the award for Best Guitarist. Wonderland is thrilled with the recognition, saying, "Thank you for the supreme honor of winning both Best Blues Artist and Best Guitarist in a city that is full of players who could easily wipe the floor with my ass without breaking a sweat."

The ceremony was held at Emo's in Austin, and was presented by the Society for the Preservation of Texas Music, The Austin Chronicle, and Capital Metro. The show raised funds for the artist-serving nonprofit, the SIMS Foundation. Full list of winners can be found here.

Master musician Dave Alvin, who produced Wonderland's Alligator Records 2021 debut Tempting Fate, says he is "extremely happy for her wins.... I'm very proud and honored to have produced Tempting Fate, and I hope that fate allows us to continue working together in the future. She's a joyous inspiration!"

The Austin American-Statesman says, "Tempting Fate is arguably the best of her dozen releases. Wonderland traverses from blues to country to rock & roll and beyond...fiery [and] deeply soulful."

AllMusic declares, "Tempting Fate is a roof-rattling, take-no-prisoners soulful shout-out rooted in the past that still shines brightly into the future."

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12 ALLIGATOR ARTISTS RECEIVE 25 BLUES MUSIC AWARD NOMINATIONS
2/11/2022

On Thursday, February 10, 2022, the Blues Foundation announced the nominees for the 43rd Annual Blues Music Awards. A total of 12 Alligator Records artists received an astounding 25 nominations.

12 ALLIGATOR ARTISTS RECEIVE 25 BLUES MUSIC AWARD NOMINATIONS

 

Tommy Castro Leads All Artists With Six Nominations, Including B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year, Album Of The Year and Song Of The Year.Chris Cain Follows With Four Nominations, Curtis Salgado With Three.Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, Carolyn Wonderland, Selwyn Birchwood Receive Two Nominations Each.Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials, Tinsley Ellis, Billy Branch, Derrick "D'mar" Martin and Christoffer "Kid" Andersen (of Rick Estrin & The NIghtcats) and Regi Oliver (of The Selwyn Birchwood Band) Receive One Nomination Each.

 

On Thursday, February 10, 2022, the Blues Foundation announced the nominees for the 43rd Annual Blues Music Awards. A total of 12 Alligator Records artists received an astounding 25 nominations. Leading all artists with six is guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Tommy Castro. His nominations include the coveted B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year, Album Of The Year (for Tommy Castro Presents A Bluesman Came To Town) and Song Of The Year (for Somewhere). Additionally, Tommy Castro & The Painkillers were nominated for Blues Band Of The Year. West Coast guitar master Chris Cain followed close behind Castro with four nominations, including Album Of The Year (for Raisin' Cain) and Best Instrumentalist -- Guitar.Soul blues vocalist Curtis Salgado received three nominations. Young blues guitar phenomenon Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, guitarist/lap-steel master Selwyn Birchwood and Texas guitarist/vocalist Carolyn Wonderland received two each. Chicago's world-famous Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials, Southern blues rocker Tinsley Ellis and harmonica giant Billy Branch each received one nomination.Saxophonist Regi Oliver (of The Selwyn Birchwood Band), guitarist Christoffer "Kid" Andersen and drummer Derrick "D'mar" Martin (both of Rick Estrin & The Nightcats) also received one nomination each.The awards ceremony will be held in Memphis, Tennessee on Thursday, May 5 at the Renasant Convention Center. The full list of nominees can be found here. Alligator artists and their nominations follow:

 

B.B. King Entertainer Of The Year
Album Of The Year: Tommy Castro Presents A Bluesman Came To Town
Band Of The Year: Tommy Castro & The Painkillers
Song Of The Year: Somewhere (written by Tommy Castro and Tom Hambridge)
Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year: Tommy Castro Presents A Bluesman Came To Town
Blues Rock Artist Of The Year




Album Of The Year: Raisin' Cain
Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year: Raisin' Cain
Contemporary Blues Male Artist Of The Year

Chris Cain:
Best Instrumentalist - Guitar




Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year: Damage ControlSoul Blues Male Artist Of The YearCurtis Salgado:Best Instrumentalist - Vocals




Contemporary Blues Album Of The Year: 662Contemporary Blues Male Artist Of The Year 







Contemporary Blues Female Artist Of The YearSong Of The Year:Fragile Peace And Certain War (written by Carolyn Wonderland)





Contemporary Blues Male Artist Of The YearSong Of The Year:I'd Climb Mountains (written by Selwyn Birchwood)Regi Oliver:Best Instrumentalist - Horn


Band Of The Year









Blues Rock Artist Of The Year








Billy Branch:Best Instrumentalist - Harmonica








Christoffer "Kid" Andersen:Best Instrumentalist - GuitarDerrick "D'mar" Martin:Best Instrumentalist - Drums

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FAMED BLUES DRUMMER AND VOCALIST SAM LAY MARCH 20, 1935 - JANUARY 29, 2022
1/31/2022

Famed Chicago blues drummer and vocalist Sam Lay – who recorded on definitive tracks by Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan and many others, as well recording with and leading his own band – died in a nursing facility near his Chicago home from natural causes on Saturday, January 29, 2022.

FAMED BLUES DRUMMER AND VOCALIST SAM LAY MARCH 20, 1935 - JANUARY 29, 2022

Performed And Recorded With Little Walter, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, James Cotton, Bob Dylan And Others
Drummed As Dylan "Went Electric" At The 1965 Newport Folk Festival And Appears On Highway 61 Revisited

Walter, Wolf and Muddy, they must have known it, too that you're second to none your flawless musicianship and unsurpassed timing, a maestro with the sticks and brushes.
Bob Dylan

Almost without any argument one of the most influential and greatest drummers in the history of popular music. Lay is the real thing.

The Chicago Tribune 

 

 

Famed Chicago blues drummer and vocalist Sam Lay – who recorded on definitive tracks by Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bob Dylan and many others, as well as recording with and leading his own band – died in a nursing facility near his Chicago home from natural causes on Saturday, January 29, 2022. Beloved for his talent, his buoyant and outgoing personality, as well as for his sense of style (he was known for his cape and walking stick), Lay was among the most historically significant and musically innovative drummers in both the early blues and rock 'n' roll scenes. Lay is an inductee to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall Of Fame, The Blues Hall Of Fame and The Jazz Hall Of Fame. He was 86 years old.

Lay has always been renowned for his trademark, hard-to-copy "double-shuffle" – based on the double-time hand-clapping from his childhood church. In addition to his work with Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, Lay was an original member of the hugely influential, racially integrated Paul Butterfield Blues Band, among the first groups to bring hard Chicago blues to the burgeoning rock and roll audience. He recorded on the band's groundbreaking debut album, featuring guitarists Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop. Along with members of the Butterfield Band, Lay backed Bob Dylan at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, as Dylan famously plugged in his electric guitar, forever changing the course of popular music. Dylan chose Lay to play drums on the title track from his Highway 61 Revisited album. Lay can also be heard on scores of blues recordings by legends including John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley, Magic Sam, Earl Hooker, James Cotton, Lightnin' Hopkins and many others.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1935, Lay first played professionally in Cleveland in the mid-1950s before heading to Chicago and backing the legendary blues harmonica genius, Little Walter. Lay next joined Wolf's band, with whom he recorded on some of the blues' most iconic songs, including Killing Floor (which features Lay's often-imitated, never-duplicated drum pattern), I Ain't Superstitious, The Red Rooster, Goin' Down Slow, and 300 Pounds Of Joy. In the mid-1960s, Lay joined the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. In 1969, Lay drummed on Muddy Waters' famous Fathers & Sons LP, Waters' best-selling album on Chess.

Lay first recorded under his own name in 1969 with Sam Lay In Bluesland, on Blue Thumb Records. He recorded six more albums as a leader (most recently in 2003) and fronted his own internationally touring band. He recorded two albums as a member of The Siegel-Schwall Band for Alligator Records, and continued to work and tour with the band for the rest of his career. According to Siegel-Schwall band leader Corky Siegel, "As Charlie Musselwhite always says, 'Sam does not just play the drums. He sings them.'"

Lay was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1998 for his performances on the Tribute To Howlin' Wolf album on Telarc. He was further honored by the Chicago Chapter of The Recording Academy in January 2002 with a coveted "Legends and Heroes Award" for his significant musical contributions. At this event, Lay's old friend Bob Dylan sent a telegram, stating in part, "It's so well-deserved. Walter, Wolf and Muddy, they must have known it, too – that you're second to none – your flawless musicianship and unsurpassed timing, a maestro with the sticks and brushes."

Lay appeared during the seven-part 2003 PBS-TV broadcast of The History of the Blues produced by Academy Award winning director, Martin Scorsese. He was the subject of a 2015 documentary film entitled Sam Lay In Bluesland, directed by John Anderson. The film features Sam telling his story in his own words and music, and includes appearances by music greats Iggy Pop, Corky Siegel, Elvin Bishop, and late blues harmonica giant James Cotton. It also includes historic 8mm performance films that Sam personally shot, many of which were recorded at some of Chicago's most storied blues clubs.

Lay is survived by daughter Debbie Lay (Hiley), four grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and a host of nieces, nephews and friends.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

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CHRISTONE "KINGFISH" INGRAM ANNOUNCES SUPPORT ACTS FOR HIS 2022 TOUR
1/27/2022

Today, Thursday, January 27, Clarksdale, Mississippi's own Christone "Kingfish" Ingram announced the stellar lineup of support acts for his 2022 tour in support of his Grammy-nominated, critically and popularly acclaimed Alligator album, 662.

CHRISTONE "KINGFISH" INGRAM ANNOUNCES SUPPORT ACTS FOR HIS 2022 TOUR


Blues Phenom to Make Apollo Theater Debut in New York City; Will Hit Austin, Dallas, New Orleans, Philadelphia and More
Artists Rissi Palmer, Camille Parker, Maggie Rose, and Brittney Spencer Will Each Open Selected Shows


   

Grammy Award Nomination   "Best Contemporary Blues Album"

#1 Best Blues Album Of 2021

MOJO

Christone "Kingfish" Ingram represents the next generation of great American blues artists.
—PBS NewsHour
 
Ingram plays guitar with dramatic, searing tone and sure-handed authority. And that's just in the studio; he's even scarier live.
—NPR Music

Christone "Kingfish" Ingram has already made his mark as one of the best, and undoubtedly most exciting, blues guitarists in the world.
—Guitar World
 

Today, Thursday, January 27, Clarksdale, Mississippi's own Christone "Kingfish" Ingram announced the stellar lineup of support acts for his 2022 tour in support of his Grammy-nominated, critically and popularly acclaimed Alligator album, 662. Entitled Christone "Kingfish" Ingram Presents 662: Juke Joint Live, the tour is a partnership with Nashville-based Outback Presents, and will take the 23-year-old guitarist, vocalist and songwriter across the country with dates beginning March 2022 and going through May. The four genre-trailblazing announced artists (who will each open selected shows) are Rissi Palmer, Camille Parker, Maggie Rose, and Brittney Spencer.

“I’m very excited to have these four incredible musicians join me for 662: Juke Joint Live. I have listened to their music and followed their success for some time now,” says Kingfish. “I think each of us have expanded the definition of our respective genres and we have been fortunate to receive support from the Americana music community. I’m quite confident fans will really enjoy what we will bring to the live stage."

Rissi Palmer is a multi-hyphenate, multi-talented singer, songwriter, radio host, and curator who has been on the scene since 2007, when she released her successful self-titled debut album.  Palmer’s gift lies in reaching across all musical boundaries. While she made her mark in country music, she is equally at home in R&B music, bringing the entire spectrum of popular music to bear on music she calls “Southern Soul.” Palmer’s most recent album, Revival (2019), was critically hailed as her most personal and uplifting work to date. She is currently writing new music. As a radio host of Apple’s Color Me Country, she gives a vital platform to country musicians of color and lifts their voices as she explores the genre’s Black, Indigenous and Latino origins.

Palmer says of touring with Kingfish, “I can’t even begin to describe how excited and grateful I am to head out on the road with Christone. The level of musicianship of Kingfish is through the roof and my band and I can’t wait to take this live experience straight to the people.”
More about Rissi Palmer: https://rissipalmermusic.com/ 

Camille Parker is a genre-defying singer-songwriter blending the tradition of country songwriting with modern influences spanning R&B and pop. Recently announced as one of the CMT’s Next Women of Country Class of 2022, Parker has been described by fellow country singer Mickey Guyton as “the future.” Her vocal delivery is vulnerable yet rich and agile, and she attributes her deeply honest and relatable approach to songwriting to musical influences such as Dolly Parton, D’Angelo, Bonnie Raitt and Rihanna. Her single The Flame is out now. 

Parker says, “I am so excited to be joining Kingfish on the road this spring. He’s an artist I truly admire and I’m looking forward to sharing my music with his amazing fans.”
More about Camille Parker: https://www.iamcamilleparker.com

Maggie Rose is a Nashville-based singer/songwriter who dreamed up her own unbridled collision of rock and roll, soul, folk, funk, and R&B for her third studio album. Have a Seat was produced by Ben Tanner of Alabama Shakes and came to life at the iconic FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Have A Seat found Rose approaching her music with more confidence and clarity of vision than ever, ultimately sharing a selection of songs both timeless and urgent and appropriately named one of the  "Best Albums of 2021" by both Rolling Stone and American Songwriter, while NPR’s World Cafe called Rose “a multi-genre powerhouse…a must see act,” and Garden & Gun hailed her “an artist at the top of her craft.”

Rose says of this announcement: “I am incredibly honored to join a musical talent like Christone and get in front of his fans on the 662: Juke Joint Live Tour,” says Rose. “I feel privileged to be invited along for such a great experience in these beautiful theaters and I know that together it will make for a powerful and dynamic night of music.”
More about Maggie Rose: https://www.maggierosemusic.com/ 

Deemed “Nashville’s new star” by CBS This Morning, breakout newcomer Brittney Spencer is paving her own path in the country music genre and making major waves in the process. A People magazine “Hollywood One to Watch," Spotify Hot Country Artist to Watch, Pandora Artist to Watch and member of CMT’s 2022 Listen Up Artist class,  the Baltimore native is known for her free spirit and standout ability to mold life, truth and wild imagination into songs. Her recent single Sober & Skinny has garnered praise from The New York TimesRolling Stone, and more, including earning her the cover of Nashville Scene’s 2021 Year in Music Issue. Spencer will release new music this spring.

Spencer says, “I’m so excited to join Kingfish for the west coast leg of his Juke Joint tour! Our shared love for music and performing has caused our not-so-distant musical worlds to collide in the best way. I suspect it’ll be a magical time.” 
More about Brittney Spencer: https://shorefire.com/roster/brittney-spencer

Andrew Farwell, Vice President, Outback Presents, says "We are so honored to work with these incredible artists. It’s a wonderful opportunity to reach new audiences, bringing unbridled talent and musicianship to the masses. Combining these unique points of view with Christone’s virtuosic tenacity will make for an unforgettable live concert experience.” 



Upon its July 2021 release, 662 (named for the telephone area code of Ingram's northern Mississippi home) debuted at #1 on the Billboard Blues Chart, and it's remained on the chart ever since. NPR's Morning Edition ran a seven-minute feature on release day. Tastemaker UK magazine MOJO named 662 the #1 Best Blues Album of 2021 calling it "an exceptional album" filled with "astonishing creativity." Influential website Under The Radar said, "Kingfish is one of the torchbearers for the blues."

On radio, 662 quickly became one of the biggest contemporary blues crossover albums of the year, receiving massive airplay on NPR-affiliated stations and SiriusXM. 662 also topped numerous radio format charts, cracking the top 20 on the North American College and Community Chart (and hitting #1 on its Blues Chart). It spent three months at #1 on the influential Living Blues Radio Chart, and also excelled on both Nielsen's Adult Album Alternative Chart and The Americana Music Association’s Singles and Album Charts. Additionally, 662 appeared at or near the top of the major international blues charts in Australia, France and the UK.
 
662 was recorded in Nashville and co-written and produced by Grammy-winner Tom Hambridge. It features 13 songs (and one previously released bonus track) displaying many sides of Ingram’s personality, as well as his one-of-a-kind guitar and vocal skills. According to Ingram, "662 is an ode to my roots, a nod to the area where I was born and raised. The title track, 662, encompasses how a small corner of the earth influenced my view of life and music. It also points to the growth I have had since my debut album. As much as I have been fortunate to get 'Outside Of This Town' (the title of his breakout single from his 2019 Grammy-nominated debut album, Kingfish), I do want people to know that the '662' will always be a major part of who I am."

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