Mr. Sipp: From Church Revivals to BMA Glory

When Castro Coleman walked onto the stage at Memphis’s Orpheum Theater in January 2014, he had been playing blues for barely two years. Furthermore, he was up against 261 bands from around the world at the International Blues Challenge.

Nobody expected the gospel guitarist from McComb, Mississippi, to walk away with the top prize. However, that is exactly what happened — and it launched one of the most remarkable second-act careers in modern blues.

Early Life in McComb

Mr. Sipp was born Castro Mantale Coleman on August 25, 1976, in the small town of McComb, Mississippi, just four miles south of the Louisiana border. His parents, Johnelle and the late Vera Coleman, were both musicians who sang and wrote songs together.

Moreover, they traveled the southern gospel circuit throughout the 1970s and early 1980s as members of a quartet called The Starlights. The group recorded the album The Light of the World on an independent label in 1979.

Music surrounded the Coleman household from the start. Nevertheless, Johnelle Coleman had no intention of raising musicians. He wanted his children to become lawyers, convinced that a life in music could never support a family. Still, young Castro had other plans.

At age six, Castro picked up the guitar for the first time. His Aunt Grace King — who led a group called The Mellownettes — recognized his natural ability immediately. Subsequently, she convinced his reluctant parents that the boy had genuine talent. By age eight, Castro had joined The Mellownettes as their guitarist, touring churches across Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, and Tennessee.

Then his father made a pivotal decision. Instead of fighting the inevitable, Johnelle placed Castro in church revivals — weekly services plus intense five-night stretches during special periods. Consequently, the young guitarist logged thousands of hours performing before live audiences while most kids his age were playing Little League.

Twenty-Five Years in Gospel

That church foundation shaped everything that followed. Indeed, Mr. Sipp spent more than two decades building a serious gospel music career before he ever touched a blues stage.

The True Believers

In 1996, at age twenty, Castro founded The True Believers with several cousins. He served as lead guitarist and primary songwriter, writing most of the group’s original material. Furthermore, the group’s modern approach — tennis shoes, jeans, jerseys, and baseball caps instead of traditional church attire — set them apart on the gospel circuit.

Their momentum built fast. Within just one year, The True Believers landed a record deal with Blackberry Records in 1997. The label’s CEO, Doug Williams — a former lead singer of the Sensational Williams Brothers — had actually spoken at Castro’s third-grade career day years earlier. Additionally, the group recorded two albums for the label: Steppin’ Out on Faith and Live at Home with Family and Friends.

However, the intense touring schedule eventually took its toll. Not every member shared Castro’s relentless work ethic, and The True Believers disbanded around 2004.

Session Work and The Williams Brothers

After the group’s dissolution, Castro’s reputation as a guitarist opened new doors. In 2005, he joined The Williams Brothers — a four-time Grammy-nominated, fifteen-time Stellar Award-winning gospel powerhouse — as a session guitarist and band director. Meanwhile, he also became a go-to session player at Blackberry Records, recording alongside artists including Brian Courtney Wilson, Yolanda Adams, Rance Allen, and approximately sixty-five additional national gospel acts.

By this point, Castro had accumulated over 125 recording credits and played on more than fifty national recordings. Furthermore, he started his own label, Baby Boy Records, signing acts like The Harvey Spirituals and his Aunt Grace King. His production skills matched his guitar work — he could write, arrange, play multiple instruments, and run the board.

Yet something kept pulling at him.

The Leap to Blues

In 2010, Castro took a two-year break from gospel touring. He spent time as a family man with his wife and five children on his twenty-three-acre property in McComb. Nevertheless, he quickly realized he was a “road rat” at heart — built for performing.

The question became: what kind of music? He researched his options carefully. R&B felt overcrowded. Hip-hop posed steep barriers for a rural Mississippi artist approaching forty. Soul and neo-soul had limited touring infrastructure. Then he looked at the blues.

The logic was compelling. Gospel and blues, as Coleman puts it, “are first cousins” — built on similar chord structures and emotional directness. Moreover, Mississippi’s deep blues heritage meant the genre ran through his home state’s DNA. Additionally, blues had a proven touring circuit with real longevity, unlike genres that burned through artists on two-year cycles.

Subsequently, Castro reinvented himself as Mr. Sipp — a name he explains simply: “Mr. Sipp is short for Mississippi, and because I’m so young in it, I’m The Mississippi Blues Child.”

Career Breakthrough

The International Blues Challenge

Mr. Sipp wasted no time testing himself against the competition. In the fall of 2012, he won the regional Vicksburg Blues Challenge and advanced to the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. Remarkably, he finished fourth out of 261 bands — after only two months of playing blues professionally.

That fourth-place finish would have satisfied most newcomers. Instead, it fueled his determination. Two years later, in January 2014, Mr. Sipp returned to the International Blues Challenge and dominated. He won the Band Competition outright and took home the Gibson Best Guitarist Award. Furthermore, the Jus’ Blues Foundation honored him with the Bobby Rush Entertainer of the Year Award that same year.

The blues world took notice immediately. Here was a fully formed musician — a multi-instrumentalist with twenty-five years of stage experience, a producer’s ear, and a guitarist’s fire — who had simply been playing the wrong genre.

Awards Pile Up

The recognition came fast and heavy after that IBC victory. In 2015, the Jackson Music Awards gave Mr. Sipp three trophies: International Male Blues Artist, Blues Artist of the Year, and Entertainer of the Year. Then in 2016, his album The Mississippi Blues Child won the Blues Music Award for Best New Artist Album — a remarkable achievement for someone who had been in the genre for barely four years.

Also in 2016, he received the Spirit of Little Walter Award and became the first blues artist to have his handprint inducted into the Wall of Fame in Fredrikshavn, Denmark. Subsequently, his 2017 album Knock a Hole in It won the Living Blues Award for Best Blues Album in the Contemporary Blues category.

The momentum kept building. In 2018, the 44th Annual Jackson Music Awards named him National Blues Artist of the Year. Meanwhile, he continued collecting BMA nominations for Album of the Year, Soul Blues Album, and Contemporary Blues Male Artist.

The B.B. King Entertainer Crown

Perhaps the most fitting honor arrived on May 9, 2025, at the 46th Annual Blues Music Awards in Memphis. According to the Blues Foundation’s official announcement, Mr. Sipp won the B.B. King Entertainer of the Year — the genre’s most prestigious individual honor. Considering that B.B. King had been Castro’s primary guitar influence since age six, the symmetry was powerful.

Then in March 2026, the Mississippi State Senate passed Resolution 50, formally recognizing Mr. Sipp’s contributions to both gospel and blues as an ambassador for the state. His hometown of McComb had already unveiled a statue in his honor and declared November 25th as National Mr. Sipp Day.

Musical Style and Technique

Mr. Sipp’s playing carries the unmistakable stamp of his gospel roots. His phrasing emphasizes placement over speed — an approach he traces directly to studying B.B. King. “B.B. King is so simple yet so tasteful in his playing,” he has noted. One note in the right place carries more weight than ten notes thrown at the fretboard.

Influences and Approach

Beyond B.B. King, Mr. Sipp draws from a deep well of blues guitar tradition. Albert Collins, Freddie King, Stevie Ray Vaughan, John Lee Hooker, and Muddy Waters all figure into his sound. Furthermore, he credits Willie Dixon for shaping his approach to song arrangement and Bobby Rush for his entertainment philosophy.

However, what truly sets Mr. Sipp apart is the gospel energy he brings to every performance. His shows are high-energy, call-and-response-driven events that blur the line between a blues concert and a revival meeting. Additionally, his vocals — trained through decades of church singing — carry a power and range that few contemporary blues artists can match.

Multi-Instrumentalist Skills

Mr. Sipp is far more than a guitarist. He plays keyboards, drums, and bass, and has been learning trumpet and saxophone. Indeed, on his debut blues album It’s My Guitar (2013), he played every instrument and sang every vocal part himself, handling all mixing and production at his own Baby Boy Records studio. That self-sufficiency gives him complete creative control over his recorded output.

His songwriting process reflects a spontaneous, melody-first approach. Essentially, he records ideas on his phone constantly, treating every sound as a potential melody and every conversation as a potential song. Then he assembles the final track like fitting together pieces of a puzzle.

Gospel Meets Blues

Ultimately, what makes Mr. Sipp’s sound distinctive is the seamless fusion of sacred and secular traditions. While many blues artists reference gospel influence in passing, Mr. Sipp lived it for a quarter century before switching genres. Consequently, his vibrato carries the weight of ten thousand church services. His call-and-response instincts come from working rooms where audience participation was not optional — it was worship.

Furthermore, his understanding of dynamics — knowing when to hold back and when to unleash — reflects years of reading congregations rather than bar crowds. That church-trained intuition gives his live performances an emotional arc that few contemporary blues acts can replicate.

Key Recordings

It’s My Guitar (2013, Baby Boy Records)

Mr. Sipp’s debut blues album announced his arrival with authority. He produced the entire project himself, playing every instrument and singing every vocal. Initially, the album sold approximately 9,000 copies through grassroots touring — moving around 300 copies weekly through festival and venue appearances. Furthermore, the album established his reputation as a self-contained musical force capable of handling every aspect of record-making.

The Mississippi Blues Child (2015, Malaco Records)

His sophomore effort marked a major step up. Signing with Malaco Records — the legendary Jackson, Mississippi, label behind countless southern soul and blues classics — gave Mr. Sipp wider distribution and credibility. Subsequently, the album won the 2016 BMA for Best New Artist Album and earned multiple Jackson Music Awards. The title track became his calling card, establishing “The Mississippi Blues Child” as his permanent nickname.

Knock a Hole in It (2017, Malaco Records)

This third album cemented Mr. Sipp’s standing in the contemporary blues world. It won the 25th Annual Living Blues Award for Best Blues Album (Contemporary Blues) and fueled extensive international touring through France, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Spain, and Brazil. Moreover, the album demonstrated his growing confidence as a songwriter, blending Delta blues grit with modern production sensibilities.

Sippnotized (2021, Malaco Records)

Released during the pandemic in April 2021, Sippnotized proved Mr. Sipp could maintain momentum even when touring shut down. Notably, one of the album’s original songs was featured in the film Texas Red, where Mr. Sipp appeared alongside Cedric Burnside. The track “Dirty Mississippi Blues” received special arrangements for the movie.

Basie Swings the Blues (2024, Count Basie Orchestra)

In a surprising turn, Mr. Sipp contributed to the Count Basie Orchestra’s album Basie Swings the Blues, which won the 2024 Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. This collaboration demonstrated his versatility and earned him his first Grammy — a remarkable achievement for an artist who had entered blues barely a decade earlier.

Beyond Music: Film and Television

Mr. Sipp’s charisma extends beyond the stage. In 2014, he was cast in Get on Up, the James Brown biographical film, and helped recruit other Mississippi musicians for the production. Then in 2016, CMT cast him as the young B.B. King in three episodes of the television series Sun Records — a role that required him to channel the mannerisms of his lifelong hero.

Subsequently, in 2021, he landed a role in the feature film Texas Red alongside Cedric Burnside, performing his original blues compositions within the movie. Notably, the film gave him the opportunity to showcase “Dirty Mississippi Blues” from his Sippnotized album to an audience that might never have encountered his music otherwise.

Legacy and Impact

Mr. Sipp represents something rare in contemporary blues — an artist who arrived fully formed from another genre and immediately elevated the entire scene. His twenty-five years in gospel gave him technical mastery, stage command, and an understanding of audience connection that most blues artists spend decades developing.

Furthermore, his story challenges the assumption that blues careers must follow a conventional path. He did not grow up playing Delta blues on a porch or apprentice under a Chicago mentor. Instead, he built his foundation in Black southern churches and brought that fire directly into the blues.

His commitment to McComb is equally significant. In an era when most successful musicians relocate to Nashville, Austin, or Los Angeles, Mr. Sipp stays rooted in the Mississippi soil that shaped him. “I still live in McComb,” he says. “I want to die in McComb.” He drives a 1992 Chevy pickup, works his twenty-three acres, and remains deeply connected to the church community that still accounts for forty percent of his local audience.

Additionally, his recognition by the Mississippi State Senate through Resolution 50 in March 2026 — alongside a hometown statue and his own declared holiday — confirms what the blues world has known since that 2014 IBC victory. Specifically, Mr. Sipp is Mississippi’s most compelling blues ambassador of his generation.

Staying Rooted

Moreover, his decision to remain in McComb carries real cultural weight. While the Great Migration once pulled millions of Black southerners toward northern cities, Mr. Sipp represents a different kind of blues story — one where the artist stays home and lets the world come to him. His twenty-three acres, his church community, and his family keep him grounded in the same Mississippi soil that produced the genre itself.

Now approaching fifty, Mr. Sipp shows no signs of slowing down. With a Grammy, a B.B. King Entertainer of the Year award, multiple BMA wins, and a Malaco Records catalog that keeps growing, The Mississippi Blues Child has thoroughly earned his place among the modern blues artists you need to hear.