Jimmy "Duck" Holmes
Back To Bentonia
Broke & Hungry Records – BH13001
2006
(39'01")

What we have here is no less than the proof that the Bentonia style is alive and well, and very healthy too.
But what is Bentonia style may you ask ? To make it simple, let's say it's the blues as it was taught to Jack Owens by Skip James, then taught by Owens to his fellow Bentonian musicians. The genre lovers thought Owens passing could also mean the disappearance of the style. Not at all. Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, a Bentonian himself, who benefited Jack Owens lessons, maintains the tradition. Holmes is a heir, a carrier of the torch, and he holds it high as this CD testifies. He also inherited the Blue Front Cafe, a local juke joint his parents started in 1948., where most of these sides were recorded in last november, the rest being recorded in December at the au Delta Recording Studio in Clarksdale, Mississippi. By Jimmy Holmes side, harmonicist Bud Spires, an old sideman of Jack Owens, can be found on several numbers, including Your Buggy Don't Ride Like Mine he sings, and legendary Sam Carr on drums when Holmes leaves his acoustic guitar for an electric one. It's raw, it's sincere, it's authentic, it's the blues as it was played in the American Southern country side a century ago, and as it is still being played today as proven here. Essential to the genre amateurs.

René Malines