Kingfish - 662 - Modern Blues

[lewdd]

https://open.spotify.com/album/3oHvQF3GcnbPRsnp2pieAZ

So, this kid is 22 years old and this is his 2nd album. His first was a Grammy Award winner in 2019 (maybe 2018). He is from the hometown of my wife in Clarksdale, MS so I have a soft spot in my heart for him. I saw him play live in April at the Juke Joint Festival there. The title track "662" is a homage to the area code of Clarksdale and him growing up there. I think it is his best song yet and better than any on his first Grammy winning LP.

Clarksdale is the home of the Delta Blues Museum that several popular artists have contributed funds, time, and effort toward - ZZ Top, Plante/Page, etc. It houses the log cabin type home of Muddy Waters from the outskirts of that town on the Stovall Plantation. Roger Stovall who is a descendent of that family is part owner of a local blues club with Morgan Freeman and others. The club has been rated as the #1 blues club in the country by several magazines, websites, etc.

The Delta Blues Museum has an apprenticeship type program where local kids (who mostly live significantly below the national poverty level) can take lessons on how to play blues music. Local elder blues musicians teach the classes which are free to the students. Kingfish was a student of this program. He started on drums, moved to bass, and eventually to lead guitar. At a very early age, he was playing on stage locally with these elders.

Check it out and help spread the word that the blues is certainly still alive in the Mississippi Delta.

Again, I am biased. It is my wife's hometown. Her Mom and Dad still live there. Anything that gets people to visit there helps them in an indirect way.

Please post your thoughts on this "kid".

There are plenty of internet interviews and youtube videos/interviews about him. I think he is very humble for his achievements at such a young age.

[JGJR]

I would very much like to visit Clarksdale one day and even more so Oxford (where UMiss is, where Oxford-American is based, where Faulkner lived, etc.), but maybe combine it with a trip to Memphis. I've never been to any of those places. The closest I've gotten was Jackson, MS.

[lewdd]

Well, you let me know when you want to head to the Delta and I will give you a personal tour. I won't claim to know it like the back of my hand, but I feel I am more versed than the majority of folks in this country including those that live in the areas that you mentioned you would like to tour. You probably need a month to do the area justice, but based on your want list I could make it happen in a whirl wind week. Not to mention that I have connections (my mother in law) that could make your hotel fees $0 for portions of the trip if not all of it.

[SamDBL]

He is great. And so is that delta blues museum. I went there a few years go. There are a ton of great sites and museums dedicated to blues, there, actually. But this one is def the best museum.

[JGJR]

Well, you let me know when you want to head to the Delta and I will give you a personal tour. I won't claim to know it like the back of my hand, but I feel I am more versed than the majority of folks in this country including those that live in the areas that you mentioned you would like to tour. You probably need a month to do the area justice, but based on your want list I could make it happen in a whirl wind week. Not to mention that I have connections (my mother in law) that could make your hotel fees $0 for portions of the trip if not all of it.

I would love to take you up on that if/when the timing is right, et al. Thank you.

[patient_ot]

Never been a huge blues fan. I barely dabble in the stuff. A friend of mine is a huge blues nut and has been talking this guy's stuff up lately.

FWIW Chad at Acoustic Sounds is a huge blues guy and was clearing out some blues SACDs and other stuff there for $5 recently. Might be of interest to some blues fans. I think these are recordings from the 2000s made by old dudes.