Sinners was a blast': Christone Kingfish' Ingram, the blues prodigy serving up electrifying riffs in the year's biggest film

"Founded in 1848, Clarksdale, Mississippi, soon earned the title the Golden Buckle on the Cotton Belt, a place where enslaved Africans and their descendants picked cotton by the tonne. But mechanisation in the 1960s changed things. Today, the small city's median household income is $35,210, with 40% of the populace living below the poverty line. And 80% of Clarksdale's 14,400 residents are African American."

"WC Handy, Muddy Waters, Robert Nighthawk, Junior Parker, Ike Turner and Sam Cooke are just a handful of the celebrated blues and R&B musicians who were either born or based themselves in Clarksdale at some point across the 20th century. Now, after decades of neglect, Clarksdale is using its musical heritage to re-establish its place on the map and one of the city's native sons, Christone Kingfish Ingram, is bringing the blues back to the centre of American culture."

"The blues has been marginalised for a long time, says Ingram, seen as old folks' music. But I'm noticing people are responding to blues. They're tired of what I call artificial music. And I'm fortunate to be riding that wave. With his debut album, Kingfish, in 2019, the then 20-year-old Ingram immediately raced to the top of the US blues album charts. Two years later, his sophomore effort 662 (named after Clarksdale's area code) followed suit and won him his first Grammy."

Clarksdale was founded in 1848 and became known as the Golden Buckle on the Cotton Belt where enslaved Africans and their descendants picked cotton by the tonne. Mechanisation in the 1960s transformed the local economy. The city now has a median household income of $35,210, 40% of residents live below the poverty line, and 80% of its 14,400 population is African American. Clarksdale is a historic blues mecca, home to the crossroads associated with Robert Johnson, the death of Bessie Smith, and many celebrated blues and R&B musicians. Christone Kingfish Ingram has revived national interest in the blues with acclaimed albums, a Grammy, high-profile performances, and prominence in 2025.

Read at www.theguardian.com