Date: 3/20/2016

Place: Blue Front Cafe, Bentonia MS

 

So - we just started our 3rd field recording trip with Ampex 601 and RCA 77DX, from Bentonia MS - where traditional Bentonia School style, which you can hear on all of Skip James recordings, is still alive. We visited Blue Front Cafe, one of the last old juke joints in the States, to see the owner / the legendary Bentonia Blues guitarist, Jimmy "Duck" Holmes.

Was definitely a touching moment to record the legend playing at such a historic place - we recorded 3 songs and every take was awesome. They were warm and strong just like his personality.
There was also his grandson in the cafe. Jimmy jammed with him and that was really beautiful.
What if you were a Country Blues geek, and met the last man standing who you had been longing to see, at one of the most important places for Blues history in the Deep South? I was really really lucky.

Thank you so much Jimmy, for giving a weird Japanese guy this opportunity.