West Virginia music

John Inghram: “Little Mountain Mama”

Anyone who practices mindfulness and meditation will tell you that being in the moment is a big deal. The most successful goal-oriented individuals will say it’s never too late to start chasing dreams. Those two fundamentals boil down to seizing the day, something that John Inghram‘s taken to heart in recent times. The Charleston, West Virginia bassist spent almost twenty years as a four-string for-hire across the Appalachians and mid-Atlantic and funneled much of his short-term gains into frivolous partying. But Inghram’s since recognized that his talent isn’t just a commodity for other artists, that he’s got the gumption to ‘carpe diem’ and tackle a project on his own. Which brings us to Inghram’s debut self-titled full-length, nine tracks of vintage-style, Americana-aerated psych-folk-rock. It was recorded at two different studios over the past two years, which led to a creative compartmentalization of Inghram’s jazz and bluegrass influences (the latter of which culminated in a guest appearance from bluegrass legend Tim O’Brien). So when John Inghram drops tomorrow, don’t get caught up in the creepy conventions of Friday the 13th. Instead, soak up these surreal songs like the sun on a long wilderness hike, with misty, audacious arrangements like “Little Mountain Mama”.