Today Smoot’s Grocery is hosting the record release and album pre-sale party of Jimmy “Duck” Holmes — one of the most celebrated rural blues musicians still performing as evidenced by his recent appearances at the opening week of Jazz Fest in NOLA and Clarksdale’s Juke Joint Festival.

“It is what it is” is the newest release from the American blues icon who is the proprietor of Mississippi’s oldest standing jukejoint The Blue Front Cafe which proudly perches its Mississippi Blues Trail Marker on Highway 49 in the Delta .

“Duck” was born in 1947, the year before his parents diversified from a life of farming in Yazoo county and opened The Blue Front. He has come to personify the soul of the Bentonia school of guitar, an internationally recognized style uniquely characterized by a strong association with the open E minor “haunting chords and droning strings” which “ring with an ominous and eerie feel.”

 

“Duck” has played in Natchez at Smoot’s several times since last winter’s opening and has become such a fixture on High Street at Steampunk Coffee Roaster’s Espresso Bar and Sister club Smoot’s Grocery that he could call Natchez his second home at this point.

Tonight’s event kick off with an open reception taking the form of an appreciation party from 6p.m. to 7 p.m. where guests can mingle with complimentary wine and beer and small bites from the Steampunk Mobile Unit food truck consisting of modern interpretation of Americana and southern fare in bite-sized form. Dishes include pulled sweet and sour pork pretzel-bun sliders with cajun boiled peanuts and blueberries, mushrooms stuffed with backyard greens and wild garlic, and an orange julius dreamsicle bread pudding.

Between 7 and 8 p.m. “Duck” will take the stage for the duration of the evening and the bar and food truck will resume normal operation.

The celebration is a collaboration between Smoot’s Grocery and Blue Front Records partners Michael Schulze and Jimmy “Duck” Holmes and promises to be the first of many record releases from along the Americana Music Triangle and beyond that are scheduled at Smoot’s (local prodigy Burne Sharp of Sharp Sound Design recording studio and his group Bishop Gunn will be next up on May 28th).

Thursday’s pre-release will be blues aficionados’  first chance to physically purchase “Duck’s” new album and the only time the public will be able hear him play and buy his new work before the official release party during Bentonia Blues Festival June 13-18 at the Holmes Family Farm.

More information is available at the Smoot’s Grocery website and Blue Front Cafe’s website as well as the Facebook and Twitter accounts for Smoot’s Grocery and Jimmy “Duck” Holmes.