There is a line from Christone “Kingfish” Ingram’s own description of Hard Road that tells you where this tour is coming from: “You have to tell a story rather than being all over the place.” Coming from a guitarist whose debut album sat atop the Billboard Blues Chart for 91 weeks, who earned a Grammy Award and performed at the White House for First Lady Michelle Obama at 16, that is not modesty. It is a player stepping deliberately past what first made him famous, reaching for something harder-won.
About the Show
Ingram brings The Hard Road Tour to the Strand Center for the Arts on Tuesday, October 6, at 7 p.m., touring behind Hard Road, his fourth studio album and first new studio work since 662, which won the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album in 2022. Produced by Tom Hambridge, Patrick “GuitarBoy” Hayes, and Nick Goldston, the album reaches further into R&B and neo-soul than anything Ingram has put on tape. “This record comes from real-life reflection,” he has said, circling themes of fame, heartbreak, and love. Singles include “Voodoo Charm,” “Bad Like Me,” and “Nothin’ But Your Love.”
Ingram grew up in Clarksdale, Mississippi, trained at the Delta Blues Museum, and carries the Delta blues lineage with full seriousness — which makes it all the more telling that Rolling Stone describes his sound as one that “encompasses B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix and Prince.” He is not content to live inside a tradition. The Angelique Francis Band opens the evening. Francis, whose album Long River won the 2023 JUNO Award for Blues Album of the Year, has collaborated with Ingram on the track “Not Defeated.” Her music draws from Blues, Folk, Soul, and Gospel, and her “soulful smoky vocals and instrumental techniques reminiscent of a bygone era, but with a unique and modern sensibility” make her a natural fit for this bill.
Venue & Logistics
The Strand Center for the Arts sits at 23 Brinkerhoff St. in Plattsburgh, a 950-seat theater and one of the North Country‘s primary concert venues. The show is presented by Plattsburgh Blues & Jazz, a local nonprofit whose mission is connecting the community with world-class musical experiences. On a tour leg that reaches Massey Hall in Toronto four nights later, Plattsburgh is the intimate stop — the room where Ingram can work close. He has played Hyde Park with the Rolling Stones. In a 950-seat house, you will be close enough to watch his hands.
Tickets
No ticket price was available from sources at the time of publication. The show begins at 7 p.m. Buy tickets