Jimmy “Duck” Holmes is the embodiment of raw and uncompromising country blues. Evoking the ghostly dissonance of Skip James and Jack Owens, Jimmy is regarded as the last of the Bentonia greats and is one of the most original, celebrated and award winning country blues musicians playing today. While he frequently plays at blues festivals across the United States and Europe, Jimmy can normally be found in his hometown of Bentonia, Mississippi at the Blue Front Café, the oldest surviving juke joint in Mississippi. After Jimmy took over the operation of the old juke joint in 1970, it became the center of the Bentonia Blues with Jack Owens, Bud Spires, Jacob Stuckey, Cornelius Bright, Holmes and Hill Country Blues musician Tommy West regularly meeting at the Blue Front Café to shoot pool, drink and listen to each other play. Jack would teach Jimmy how to play the Bentonia Blues by telling him, “Watch my hands, boy. Watch my hands.” Today, tourists from all over the world travel to experience the authentic deep blues at the Blue Front. Stop in and grab a cold drink on a hot summer day or sit by the barrel stove on a cold winter day and, if you’re lucky, Jimmy may play you a song or two. If you’re really lucky, he may show you how. Until then, close your eyes and listen to Jimmy’s toe tapping the dusty concrete floor, the light clacking of a ceiling fan, the roar of a train and the most original and important country blues being played today.