Bio

Frederick Ingram

Serious Singer-Songwriter

Begin with a Quixotic Quest to reclaim the pop music space (and royalties) for True Poets. Add a thousand open mics—-literally. Then touring coffeehouses, wine bars, a few dives around the Southeast. Some self-produced bedroom recordings. Local radio and record store appearances, a little international airplay. Finally a few background appearances on some of the biggest film & TV projects around. That’s what Fred’s been up to.

Fred was inspired to pick up a six-string by the New Romantics, the super creative fusion of punk, rock, and funk that transformed pop music in the ‘80s. Now he calls himself an Old Romantic with a 12-string.

Somewhere along the way he took a long look back at an earlier British Invasion. The first music his London-born mother played him as an infant was the Fab Four's greatest hits. Largely self-taught, he was influenced by Baroque arrangements before rediscovering Baroque Rock of the ‘60s (favourite LP: Rubber Soul).

Stylistically, he became inspired by New Age artists like Michael Hedges, as well as the ringing overtones of hammered dulcimer he heard while living in Appalachia.

All this creates a melodic, rich sound that summons romantic depth from the heart of the guitar. But Fred is constantly dreaming of the ambient sounds of the future.

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Music

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    Waimoku III 2:50
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    Voltairine (Axeman Mix) 5:46
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    Ephemery 5:16
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    Щедрик (Carol of the Bells) 1:45
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Photos

Hosting a Mother's Day show in West Columbia, SC (photo: Edward Ingram)

First time at Ol' Front Porch Music Festival in Oriental, NC (photo: TownDock.net)

Hosting an open mic at Southern Hops (photo: Kickgrass Productions)

Live Video

Press / Reviews

Frederick intends for the tune ["Fish Bowl"] to be a bit of an antidote to all of the lockdowns and hiding indoors we’ve done the past few years—locked away in our own little fish bowls, separated physically but weirdly connected to the rest of the world via our glassy electronic lenses.  Indeed, his Facebook posts about the tune have been flagged by the tech giant as spreading misinformation about The Vaccine—a laughable example of the limits of artificial intelligence, and perhaps a cold comfort that, despite Zuckerberg’s autistic indifference to privacy rights, the robot uprising is still probably a long ways off.

~ The Portly Politico

 

Frederick Ingram’s proletarian folk is unstudied and sincere, and his Elements EP plays, at times, like a lo-fi Kate Bush or less pedantic Peter Gabriel. “Ephemery,” in particular, is indebted to off-kilter ’80s pop, its chorus-heavy guitar copping Andy Summers’ tone circa Synchronicity, its insistent bass throb and sparse synthesized drums bringing to mind yacht rock’s blown spume and flung spray.

~ Patrick Wall, Free Times

 

Frederick Ingram holds a special affinity for the Mountain Empire. He lived in Johnson City briefly in the mid 1990s, and this is where a passion for music was rekindled, with acoustic culture. “There were instruments everywhere. I was captivated by guitars themselves, not just the songs,” he says. “The romance of wood and steel took hold.” An English major in college, Ingram calls himself “A Bard for Our Time,” and says he treats his songs like literature. “There is a space here, in the various flavors of popular music, with the potential to be exploited by poets. I’m going to write the richest language I can. It ain’t always an easy sell,” he says, but points to literate pop stars such as Sting and Peter Gabriel, as well as the traditional balladeer, as role models. Another basis of inspiration for his craft is the natural world, which surfaces throughout his material.

- The Loafer

 

Contact Frederick