Today we’d like to introduce you to Ping Rose.
Hi Ping, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Memphis native artist/musician who relocated to Nashville after starting work on cruise ships. Toured with and recorded for a litany of artists/producers including Jazze Pha, Wendy Moten, Crystal Shawanda, Amythyst Kiah, and Brandi Waller-Pace, and Megan Coleman. Worked as an artist as well as music director for Black Opry Revue. Appeared onstage with artists like Corey Glover from Living Colour, Alicia Keys, Dom Flemons, and Lakestreet Dive. Made onscreen appearances on programs like Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, CMT’s “Nashville,” and “Tell Me a Story” on The CW. All while working as a musician, released two records with one that broke into blues charts in multiple countries and got put in several publications including Living Blues Magazine. Opened for artists like Eric Gales and Los Lonely Boys. Did all that through building a name as a virtuoso guitarist who’s also a well-rounded and capable musician that people could call whenever they needed what I like to call “normal type guitar” of any kind and playing virtually the same way to accompany myself as a soul/blues/rock singer.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I wouldn’t call it smooth, but I wouldn’t call it entirely rough either. Lot of perceptions and misunderstandings can get in the way of any career’s progress, and music is no exception. You get told things that end up being true and things that end up being false, but ultimately, the music industry is a space where almost everyone has to carve their own path. One big struggle has been oversaturation. There’s a veneer of to-go bag country music that occupies most of the entertainment space that even the “real” or “good” country music has to compete with that reinforces itself by lowering musical standards, but there’s enough otherwise to keep a lot of decent musicians occupied. I consider myself lucky to be one of them.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I call what I do Blues, but it’s a lot more than that while also still being that. People have this idea of what they think Blues is or supposed to be, and they’re just wrong about that. Blues music is extremely expansive even without considering how it influenced almost everything we listen to now. I just try to pull music you may not think of as Blues into the same space. Alt-rock, 90s hip hop/R&B, classic country, etc. It tends to get so far out that a lot of people chime in and say “that’s not ‘traditional blues’,” and I have to quickly remind ‘em that there’s no such thing and I’m also a Blues cat from Memphis, so maybe listen a little harder. Folks call me a virtuoso, but I call myself a listener. We could do the thing where I list out all the influences, etc., but it won’t make sense until you listen to it. If there’s anything I’m proud of, it’s being featured in the same spaces as a lot of the folks I take influence from. It used to be me telling my friends to listen to these guys, and now it’s me sending my friends flyers with both our names on it, or playlists with us both on them, or some random chart. That’s really cool.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.pingroseplays.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pingroseplays/
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/pingroseplays
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@pingroseplays?si=PHgw8Rpe_-l0mZQB
