Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, courtesy the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation.

Christone “Kingfish” Ingram has been around for quite a while. You may have seen him play at the White House in 2014, for example. You may have seen him play at the fictional Harlem’s Paradise on the then-Netflix, now-Disney+ series “Luke Cage” in 2018.

What makes all that even more impressive is that he’s only 24 now. While the blues had been dominated by older musicians in recent history, Ingram is part of a wave of young people getting interested in the genre and pursuing it.

“I see a lot of young African American kids learning about the blues and playing it. I think there’s a hole that some of us see that needs to be filled,” Kingfish said. “With the blues being an African American art form, it’s great to see people who look like us doing it. I think it’s fantastic that we have brothers and sisters coming out of all these different places showing that this is our history, and we’re attuned to that.”

Ingram first found the blues at age 5 while watching a PBS documentary about Muddy Waters, but that doesn’t mean he expects everyone to look to the past. He’s happy to see the evolution of his art form adopt elements of its descendants, himself having played with Rakim at an NPR Tiny Desk Concert in 2018.

“A lot of acts and artists today that I’m really into; they’re not traditional blues so to say, but they have the blues element. People like Valerie June, Gary Clark Jr., Eric Gales,” he said. “Eric took the step and played with a more modern style of music. He played with Three 6 Mafia and some others. That’s something I want to do, picking up some of those modern elements, rap and R&B, and mix it into what I do. Leave the blues rock element aside and go to R&B style, or a more folksy, Americana style.”

During his evolution as an artist, he’s also taken inspiration from others whom he’s had the opportunity to play with and learn from.

“I’ve been able to meet different people and experience different cultures, and some of the OGs of blues music telling me about life and about the art—understanding other people’s lives and other people’s struggles and whatnot,” he said. “It’s helped me evolve and be a better person. I feel like that’s reflected in my music; that’s the main thing that’s evolved my music.”

We’ll get some more examples of that musical evolution when he releases his upcoming third album. It’s starting with some songs he didn’t get a chance to use on his last album, 2021’s 662 (the follow-up to 2019’s self-titled album), but he’s reworking and updating as he goes.

“I’ve spent a lot of time in L.A. these last couple months, doing sessions and working with different producers. Trying to create a different sound,” he said.

While Ingram is known as a blues guitar prodigy, he’s eager to branch out and show what else he can do.

“I’m trying to do more music that showcases my voice rather than my guitar playing,” he said. “I’ve been complimented a lot on my singing voice. I feel like I can do things outside of the regular blues and rock stuff–stuff like R&B. Not anything truly the modern sound of today, but something like Barry White or Luther Vandross. But then, of course, adding a guitar solo in there.”

Before the album comes out, though, he’ll be playing BottleRock in Napa. He’s excited to play in the Bay Area, something he said he doesn’t get enough chances to do, but there are other reasons he’s looking forward to it.

“I love playing festivals because then I can go see some of my favorite artists—it’s really dope,” he said. “I look at the lineup when I book it. Oh yeah, man. Look at my day, and go, ‘I wanna see you, gonna see you’—plan it all out. I don’t wanna say too much, but I’ve got my plan.

“Plus it’s in wine country. I’ve heard good things about the wine. Looking forward to that, too.”

Follow publisher Daniel J. Willis at Twitter.com/BayAreaData.