A San Francisco-influenced band which was originally co-founded by Matthew Kelly, a musician, singer, and songwriter who plays guitar and harmonica, and New Riders of the Purple Sage bass player Dave Torbert and fellow Bay Area musicians Robbie Hoddinott (guitar), Chris Herold (drums) and Mick Ward. However, Ward died in a car accident later that year.

In 1974, Kingfish became more well known, and signed their first record contract, after Grateful Dead member Bob Weir, a long time friend of Kelly's, joined the band (Kelly had previously been a guest musician on the Grateful Dead album Wake of the Flood). Weir toured with Kingfish and was a band member on their first two albums, Kingfish and Live 'N' Kickin'.

When the Dead started touring again in 1976, Weir left Kingfish. By 1978's Trident, Hoddinott and Herold had also left.

The lineup of the band continued to change, with Kelly and Torbert remaining at the core. Then, in 1980, Kingfish disbanded.

Torbert died in 1982. Starting in 1984, Kingfish regrouped from time to time and toured with a gradually evolving lineup of musicians led by Kelly.

In 1999, after a series of live releases, the band released Sundown on the Forest, its first studio effort in two decades, recorded over a period of several years with different combinations of musicians, including Weir. Kelly also appeared on the Grateful Dead albums Shakedown Street and The Closing of Winterland, and on Weir's album Bobby & the Midnites. In 1995 he became a founding member of Weir's band Ratdog. The intermittent existence of Kingfish continues to the present time.