Best known as a fingerstyle guitarist, Tingstad has performed, recorded, and produced alternative country, blues, americana, rock, smooth jazz, ambient, and New-age music.

Other influences include The Kingston Trio, Flatt and Scruggs, pianist and composer Martin Denny, sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, Mason Williams's "Classical Gas" and the Hawaiian slack-key guitar.

[2] In the mid 1970s, while playing lead guitar and bass with Seattle-based rock band Pegasus, Tingstad began studies under masters of techniques pioneered by Spanish classical guitarist and innovator Andrés Segovia.

He is also known for his philanthropic and community service work for historical preservation, land trust, and environmental issues which he has incorporated into his compositional themes and branding.

[10] On April 21, 2015 Tingstad released another instrumental called Mississippi continuing in the realm of Americana, folk, blues, country and more with Chris Leighton, Ben Smith and TJ Morris on drums and percussion, Eric Robert on organ and whirly, and Garey Shelton and James Clark on bass.