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News for members of Yazoo Valley Electric Power Association
4 Smith Countian’s dream of log cabin living
14 Southern dishes
get Mexican makeover
18 Find something fun to do in Mississippi Events
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Today in Mississippi
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May 2018
Yazoo Valley
Manager of Member Services: Dennis McFee For Today in Mississippi information, call 662-746-4251, or email dmcfee@yazoovalley.com
Electric Power Association
We star
Blue Fr t at the ont Caf e as a pa rt of ou r mini-s eries “Travel ing the Blues T rail”
LEGENDARY
juke joint brings visitors from around the globe By Elissa Fulton Some people dream of becoming legends – and for some it happens simply by chance. For Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, he was deep rooted in the blues from birth. When he was just a year old, his mother Mary Holmes opened the Blue Front Cafe in 1948. It was a place to gather and play the music that was a way of life to the residents of the small Yazoo County town of Bentonia. No one who was a part of the community at that time could have known that 69 years later, people from all over the world would travel hundreds, and even thousands of miles just to get a glimpse of the place that started the unique style of music known as the Bentonia Blues. Inside the small juke joint is evidence of all those visitors. On the walls and in guest books are signatures of people who have visited from every habitable continent of the globe – North America, South American, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. Just outside, the train horns blow from the tracks across the street, locals are hanging out on the streets and phones ring off the hook as Holmes plugs in his old guitar to a small amplifier
in the corner to play for a large group from south Mississippi traveling the blues trail. He will do this again late in the afternoon for a group scheduled to visit from the Netherlands, just to get a glimpse of the culture that started this innovative music style. But this is just a normal day for Holmes and the Blue Front Cafe. “I’ve been bumping around here for 69 years and I’m 70 years old,” said Holmes. “And of course, my first memories of it, this time of day, you couldn’t have got a parking space out front. Nothing special was going on, except my mom selling moonshine or whiskey and guys coming by with guitars, and they would sit
around and play for tips and stuff like that. When my mom opened them doors, it was on.” Holmes explained what makes the Blue Front Cafe so admired. “When historians started researching the place, they said what makes it so unique in the blues world and the juke joint world, is that it’s original. It’s never been anything but a juke joint and a blues venue from day one. You know, you have juke joints that used to be grocery stores, or in the back of department stores, but this place has never been anything but a juke joint and it’s never been closed. And somehow it’s made its way through the circle to get a blues marker,” said Holmes. “I didn’t have anything to do with that. They just showed up one day and asked me where I wanted them to put it. And there it is.” Holmes remembers most of the original blues players that used to come by the Blue Front Cafe when he was little. “The guy that started the particular style of music called the Bentonia
Yazoo Valley Electric offices will be closed Monday, May 28 Dispatchers will remain on duty and crews will be on call throughout the holiday weekend. Let’s all spend time this Memorial Day honoring those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the name of our country and freedom.
May 2018
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Today in Mississippi
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Right: Jimmy “Duck” Holmes performs for a group of visitors at the Blue Front Cafe in Bentonia. Below: The Columbia High School Class of 1962 is pictured with Holmes. The group met in Madison, Miss., to travel the Delta. Their first stop was the Blue Front Cafe.
Blues was from here,” said Holmes. “His name was Henry Stuckey, and he was my neighbor. His guitar was the first guitar I laid hands on and he was the one that created or started a style of music that has done swept the world.” According to Holmes, Henry Stuckey taught Jack Owens and Nehemiah “Skip” James how to play, and all those guys were hanging around the Blue Front Cafe. They had no idea what they were doing with music at the time, other than playing. Because of those three musicians and the juke joint they played in, the Bentonia Blues is now known worldwide. “The guy that started it all used to babysit us kids. He lived close to us and when mom and dad closed the Blue Front at 10 p.m., Henry Stuckey would hit the street with his guitar,” said Holmes. “The blues music and the blues way of life is a part of me.” Holmes now travels the world playing his guitar. Just a few years ago, he was in Switzerland and the stage was set to look just like the porch of the Blue Front Cafe. “I guess I just can’t understand the popularity of it, because I’m a part of it. I will never be able to get it,”
said Holmes. “But you got to let people know that the blues belongs to America, especially by way of Mississippi.” Holmes hopes that young people will take an interest in the artform so it doesn’t fall by wayside. “It may not be the kind of music they look for, but it’s a part of our heritage. And if young people don’t keep it going it will only be on a CD or vinyl or something like that. It won’t be nobody actually doing it,” explained Holmes. “I’m not just saying learn to play it, learn to appreciate it. And sometimes when you learn to appreciate something, you might say, well I’m going to start doing the blues for a hobby.” The music is not meant The Blue Front Cafe is one of the three markers in Bentonia on the Mississippi Blues Trail. (Photo by Dawn Davis)
to entertain but it’s a style of music that conveys a message – a style that belongs to the music that tells a life story. “If it wasn’t for these guys, this music would be nonexistent,” explained Holmes. “And I don’t think it’s how well we play, it’s just the history behind the music. I know what it means to America, what it means to Mississippi, and especially what it means to Yazoo County. That’s why I do it.”
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