Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes Talks Back

Mississippi’s Jimmy “Duck” Holmes is the keeper of the Bentonia blues tradition flame. He follows such earlier practitioners of the country-blues style as Skip James,

- John Wirt

Jack Owens and brothers Henry and Dodd Stuckey. The uniqueness of Bentonia blues derives in part from open-tuned guitars and unpredictable performances.

Holmes’ fans include Dan Auerbach, the rock star who’s one-half of the Black Keys. In March, Auerbach produced and recorded Holmes’ ninth album, Cypress Grove, at his Easy Eye Sound Studio in Nashville. “I like to work with people who inspire me,” Auerbach said. “Jimmy inspires me. His music is rough and tumble, and it can shatter a lot of preconceptions purists have about Delta blues.”

In the wake of Cypress Grove’s October release, Holmes opened for the Black Keys in Washington, D.C., and for Jason Isbell at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Through it all, his manager said, the 72-year-old musician stayed unaffected.

In addition to being an award-winning bluesman known throughout the world, Holmes has operated the Blue Front Café in Bentonia, Mississippi, since 1970. His parents, Carey and Mary Holmes, opened the business in 1948, a year after Holmes’ birth. Today, a Mississippi Blues Trail marker stands tall in front of the café’s baby-blue façade. Believed to be the oldest juke joint in the United States, the café’s main room is a 20-by-30 feet space featuring cinderblock walls, a concrete floor, the simplest of tables and chairs and a few ceiling fans. There’s also a soft-drink vending machine, snacks hanging behind the small service counter, Blue Front Café T-shirts hanging on the wall and an old jukebox in the left corner. “That’s about it,” Holmes said. “It’s 71 years old. I’m 72, so it’s just as authentic as I am.”