ROADLOG: BENTONIA
6/14/19
Mississippi was lit.
Bentonia, MS
To be specific.
The Town that birthed Skip James
And Jack Owens,
Legendary minor key
Dark delta pioneers.
The venue,
Blue Front Cafe
Was opened by Carey & Mary Holmes
in 1948.
In 1970,
Their son Jimmy Duck Holmes,
Now considered a blues legend,
Took it over and runs it
To this day.
Place is a straight up sweaty,
Dusty, cinder block
Delta Blues shack.
They only serve beer.
No liquor.
But everybody’s walking round
With cups of local moonshine.
Minimal PA.
Place packed.
No stage.
Just set up on the floor
and go.
Which is what I did.
After my set,
I said hello to Jimmy Duck.
He gave me a lazy handshake
And funny look,
Like, “What the fuck that noise
Is you was playing?”
And I gave him back one
That said,
“That’d be MY noise.
This how I do it, mang.”
Met a lot of good people
At this one.
Including
Mississippi John Hurt protege
R.L. Boyce,
Who was cool
And we just talked shit
Outside.
Much thx to Michael Schulze
For having me.
And to Robert Connely Farr
@robertconnelyfarr
For the photo.