The Blue Front Cafe - A Dining Experience (with photos)

I don’t expect many of you have traveled US-49 to Bentonia, Mississippi or that you stopped for a cold one there at the Blue Front Cafe.

What a shame, because if you had, you probably would have met Jimmy “Duck” Holmes



and had the pleasure of experiencing a cool Budweiser, a burger or a baloney sandwich and the Bentonia school of blues.



Bentonia? Take US-49 north out of Jackson, MS, past Pocahantas, MS and Flora. Eventually 49 passes by Bentonia, Mississippi. I remember when the old US-49 passed through the middle of and was the main street of commerce in all of those towns. Now, they are all dieing an unobserved death.

The world has pretty much forgotten Bentonia. There was a time when the City of New Orleans and the Panama Limited (trains with names) both stopped at the rail station there but those days are long past. The rails still pass through Bentonia.

North to Memphis and Chicago



and South to New Orleans



If you pay close attention as you go up 49, you’ll see the highway sign that points out the turn into Bentonia via Highway 433. Not too far down 433, you’ll cross over the railroad tracks and just before Bentonia Grocery



you'll take a right onto East Railroad Street. Yes, I know that East Railroad Street is actually a gravel road, but that’s ok. Dust will wash off. About a hundred yards down the Blue Front Café is located on the left-hand side of the road.



If you pass the Bentonia Gin,



you have gone one business too far.

I don’t know what they call places like the Blue Front Cafe in your part of the country, but in Yazoo county and across Mississippi, these establishments are known as Juke Joints. Somehow, I don’t think that that designation would bother Jimmy Duck all that much. Jimmy Duck might or might not tell you but according to the Mississippi Blues Trail Sign beside the road in front of his place, it is where the Bentonia School of Blues began.

The Blue Front Cafe

Jimmy Duck’s father opened the Blue Front Café in 1942, and Jimmy took over the place when his daddy died in 1970. It is where he grew up and learned the blues.

For students of architecture, the Blue Front Café is a metal roofed cinder block building. I wonder what school of architecture that is. The paint scheme of the Blue Front gives the place it’s name.



And a rusty old Coke Sign identifies the place.



Drinkers of Beer and Corn Whiskey will see the Blue Front as a fine establishment to enjoy a drink and maybe a burger or a meat and three lunch.





Students of the blues need to understand that when they walk into the Blue Front, they have entered the epicenter of the Bentonia School of blues.



Jimmy Duck Holmes learned the blues from master blues men Jack Owens and “Skip” James. Skip was born in 1902 and died in 1969. He earned a living as a bootlegger, and sharecropper in the Bentonia area. He is credited with the open d-minor (DADFAD)tuning and three finger picking style that is characteristic of Bentonia Blues. In 1931, he earned a recording contract with Paramount Records. Several of his early recordings, such as "Hard Time Killing Floor Blues", "Jesus is a mighty fine leader", "Devil Got My Woman" and "22-20 Blues" are influential blues standards.

After being "lost" for 30 years, James and other blues men were “rediscovered” in 1964 when they performed at the Newport Folk Festival. Along with a few other old bluesmen, James is credited with the blues revival in America.

The Bentonia Blues Festival



is held the third Saturday in June each year.



The main stage is in the street just up from the Blue Front Café in Bentonia.

If you come, bring a chair and a wide brimmed hat. Shades would also be helpful as would a funeral home fan. Bentonia is Hot in June.





If you go, be assured they will have plenty of food



and cold beer for you, so leave your cooler and picnic basket at home.



Jimmy Duck is a good guy and faithful to have more than enough cold beer on ice to help do battle against the heat.



I did say it was hot in Bentonia in June, didn't I?

I know that calling Jimmy Duck “The Last of the Blues Men” sounds hokey. But please understand that Jimmy Duck is still with us, and when he is gone, we will have lost an authentic art form that is difficult to duplicate and hard to replace.

Without any additional propaganda, let me introduce the Bentonia School of Blues.

Jack Owens – Hard Times Killing Floor Blues

LINK

Jack Owens with Bud Spires Devil Blues

LINK

Skip James “Devil got my Woman”

LINK

Skip James “Crow Jane”
LINK

Jimmy Duck Holmes on Lo-Fi St Louis

LINK

Jimmy Duck Holmes playing and singing

LINK