Rockstar Game’s latest update for Red Dead Online, Blood Money, was released last month bringing in new story content, new types of work, and new rewards. Other recent updates brought in new races, and reset the Honor system. Recently, Nvidia DLSS support became available for Red Dead Online and Red Dead Redemption 2.
The update also brought in new characters for players to engage with such as “Bluewater” John. He is a musician that players will come across in the new story content involving the recovery of capitale. “Bluewater” John was given life and portrayed by Christone “Kingfish” Ingram. Kingfish also created a song written from the perspective of the character he is playing called “Bluewater Man”. We recently had the chance to interview Kingfish and here is what he had to say about being involved with the latest update to Red Dead Online.
mxdwn: Can you talk a little about your role in the game?
Kingfish: Bluewater John or Bluewater Man per the song was modeled after Robert Johnson. They have that myth about the crossroads with Robert and that was an influence for the game. Bluewater John is very mystic guy obviously, he turns into snakes and everything, so I wanted to capture the essence of the Robert Johnson legend for Bluewater Man in song.
mxdwn: What are the differences between writing a song from a specific character in a game compared to writing your usual music?
Kingfish: I wouldn’t say it’s too many differences because as a teenager when I first started to write, I wasn’t really writing my story, it was kind of like writing someone else’s life. So, oddly enough, it’s kind of like that in a sense for this project; I’m voicing Bluewater John, but I’m writing for him as a character.
mxdwn: What went into the making of the song “Letter from Bluewater Man”?
Kingfish: I had this style of a blues song I wanted to do, not the traditional 1-4-5 chord progression, but more like a 8-bar blues chord progression song. Something like the “Key to the Highway” type of groove. Me and my manager got together, wrote some lyrics, and “Letter from Bluewater Man”was born.
mxdwn: How did you get involved in the project / What made you want to get involved?
Kingfish: My manager Ric called me one day and told me that the opportunity was on the table. I was fortunate that some of the Rockstar team knew of my music, so at the end of the day all worked out. I’m an avid player of Red Dead Redemption and a fan of Rockstar Games, so I was just excited to be a part of this project.