Christone “Kingfish” Ingram’s second album shows the 22-year-old prodigy in bloom with a flourishing musical maturity and compassionate world view. The album’s title bears the digits of the North Mississippi area code where Kingfish calls home, and its music is double-dipped in his regional bluesy style.

Kingfish’s composite vocabulary on guitar consists of B.B. King, Albert King, and Eric Gales, augmented by his youthful vigor and an unapologetically deep-southern vocal style. Both celebrating his heroes and demonstrating a contemporary vision of the blues, Kingfish is the ringleader of the new wave of blues-rock guitar specialists. Equally proficient in traditional blues and blues-rock, heavy cuts like “Long Distance Woman,” “My Bad,” and “Not Gonna Lie” are packed with highly flammable pentatonic magic. Kingfish knows his way around a wah and Tube Screamer.

Still, his sensitive acoustic-guitar approach on “You’re Already Gone” joins intelligent guitar phrasing with an emotional vocal delivery. Same goes for “Another Life Goes By,” where Kingfish plays clean with warmth, authority, and a sense of melody well beyond his years. The radio-friendly acoustic ballad “Rock & Roll” alone is worth the price of admission.

This article originally appeared in VG’s October 2021 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.