On July 9th I made the very good decision to attend my first Bluesdays Tuesday of the summer at the Village at Squaw Valley. The only thing that made me unhappy was that I realized that I blew it by not getting there earlier. There is something about spending a Sierra evening with a group of happy folks listening to outrageous blues guitar licks to make you feel alive. Especially, when Christone Ingram, known as Kingfish, was the guy pounding out those guitar licks.
Kingfish is a 20 year old from Clarksdale, Mississippi. He’s been playing for about 5 years and it sounds absolutely amazing how he can make a guitar sing. Especially when he is not even old enough to legally drink. One of his songs, “Been here before,” is based on his grandmother’s declaration that Kingfish is an old soul, and that certainly appeared to be the case. This guy can play the Blues! One highlight was when he sauntered through the crowd for about 10 minutes playing some mean guitar the whole way. He just came out with his first album a few months ago. I purchased it at the show, and can’t stop listening to it.
Kingfish is the first of a summer long lineup of Bluesdays shows until September 3rd. If you haven’t attended a Bluesdays, you are missing out on a true highlight of the summer. The shows go from 6-8 Pm every Tuesday, and feature top notch blues talent. At first it is pretty astounding how great the talent is that they have been able to come up with for these shows, but then you remember: Hey musicians are just like everyone else, they want to spend some time in Tahoe in the summer!
There is several different food and drink vendors to take care of any hankerings you have at the show, but what makes these events great is the relaxed vibe. The place is packed, especially right in front of the stage, and everyone is gently rocking to the beat. Sure folks are here to feel the music, but they are also here because they want to be outside in the mountains in July. See you out there!
Here’s some upcoming shows:
July 16 Danielle Nicole
July 23 Coco Montoya
July 30 Chris Cain
August 6 Sugaray Rayford
August 13 Jimmy Thackery and the Drivers
August 20 Dennis Joes Band
August 27 Honey Island Swamp Bankd
September 3 Papy Chubby.