Jimmy "Duck" Holmes facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jimmy "Duck" Holmes
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Jimmy Charles Holmes |
| Born | July 28, 1947 Bentonia, Mississippi, United States |
| Genres | Bentonia School, blues |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter, cafe proprietor |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 1970s–present |
| Labels | Broke and Hungry Records Blue Front Records Easy Eye Sound |
Jimmy "Duck" Holmes (born July 28, 1947) is an American blues musician. He also owns the Blue Front Cafe in Bentonia, Mississippi. This cafe is on the Mississippi Blues Trail and is the oldest surviving juke joint (a casual place for music and dancing) in Mississippi.
Holmes is known as the last of the Bentonia bluesmen. This means he is the last blues musician to play in the special Bentonia School style. Like other blues musicians from Bentonia, he learned this style from Henry Stuckey. Stuckey was the person who created the Bentonia blues sound. Holmes' music uses a special guitar tuning. It is known for its unique, almost spooky, and very rhythmic sound. His eighth album, It Is What It Is, was highly praised by fans and music critics.
Early Life and the Blue Front Cafe
Jimmy Charles Holmes was born on July 28, 1947, in Yazoo County, Mississippi. His parents, Carey and Mary Holmes, were sharecroppers. This means they farmed land owned by someone else and paid rent with a share of their crops.
In 1948, the year after Jimmy was born, his parents opened the Blue Front Cafe. They had ten children and also raised four grandchildren. Jimmy Holmes took over the Blue Front Cafe in 1970 when his father passed away.
How Jimmy Learned Music
Holmes first learned the Bentonia School style from Henry Stuckey. Stuckey created this unique blues style after he came back to Bentonia, Mississippi, after World War I. Stuckey lived next door to Holmes, and young Jimmy would often hear him playing guitar on his porch. Around 1957, Holmes picked up Stuckey's guitar and started to learn.
Jimmy's father, Carey Holmes, bought him his first guitar. It was a yellow and black plastic toy guitar for Christmas. In the 1960s, Holmes sometimes played an uncle's electric guitar when he visited New York City. But he didn't buy his own guitar until the 1970s. It was a small acoustic guitar from Radio Shack. This original guitar is now on display at the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
During the 1970s, many Bentonia blues musicians played at the Blue Front Cafe. These included Jack Owens, Cornelius Bright, Tommy West, and others. At first, Slater, Bright, and West tried to teach Holmes. But it was not until Jack Owens started visiting the Blue Front Cafe regularly in the 1980s that Holmes truly understood the style.
Owens came to the Blue Front several times a week. Holmes would sit with him outside and learn songs like "Hard Times Killing Floor Blues" and "Devil Got My Woman." At the same time, Tommy West, a Hill country blues musician, also taught Holmes. Holmes later used some of West's techniques in his own playing.
Holmes' music uses special Bentonia guitar tunings. These are called open E-minor and open D-minor. Holmes says he doesn't write music or lyrics and doesn't read music. He believes his ability to play is "a divine thing," meaning it feels like a gift from above.
Jimmy's Music Career
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, several people recorded Holmes' music. These included famous music researchers like Alan Lomax and David Evans. His earliest known recording was "Devil's Blues." He recorded it with Cornelius Bright for David Evans. This song appeared in 1991 on a collection album called Giants of the Country Blues Guitar - Vol. 2.
In the 1980s, Holmes began performing at the Bentonia Blues Festival. Holmes and his mother, Mary Holmes, started this festival in 1972 as a community event. It grew into one of the longest-running blues festivals in the country. Holmes also started playing at other blues festivals across Mississippi, the United States, Europe, and South America. These included the Chicago Blues Festival and the Waterfront Blues Festival.
In 2003, Holmes recorded his first album. It took three days to record at the Pluto Plantation. The record company, Shade Tree Records, closed down before releasing the music. Then, in October 2005, Jeff Konkel visited the Blue Front Cafe. He returned in November 2005 to record Holmes. These recordings were released in 2006 as Back to Bentonia. This was Holmes' first official album. It was also the first release by Broke and Hungry Records. The album had both traditional Bentonia Blues songs and new ones written by Holmes. Holmes won two Living Blues Awards for Back to Bentonia. These included Best Debut Blues Album and Best Acoustic Blues Album.
In 2007, Broke and Hungry Records released Holmes' second CD, Done Got Tired of Tryin' . This CD also received great reviews. It was named one of the top 10 Blues Albums of 2007 by WXPN, World Cafe. It was also nominated for a Blues Music Award. In 2008, Fat Possum Records released Gonna Get Old Someday. This album had the songs Holmes recorded in 2003 for Shade Tree Records. In 2010, Broke and Hungry Records released Holmes' fourth album, Ain't It Lonesome.
Albums
- Back to Bentonia, 2006
- Done Got Tired of Tryin’, 2007
- Gonna Get Old Someday, 2008
- Ain't It Lonesome, 2009
- All Night Long, 2013
- Twice As Hard, 2014
- Live at Briggs Farm Blues Festival, 2015
- It Is What It Is, 2016
- Cypress Grove, 2019
