The Blue Front Cafe | Bentonia, Mississippi

The Blue Front Cafe in Bentonia, Mississippi, is a shotgun-style cinder block building with an exposed concrete floor. It also happens to be the oldest operating juke joint in the world. I stopped in during the 2015 Bentonia Blues Festival:

The Holmes family opened the Blue Front in 1948. Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, known as the last of the Bentonia bluesmen, took over operations from his parents in 1970.

Jimmy "Duck" Holmes (r) chats with Alan Gross of the The Blues Doctors during the festival

Blues legends such as Skip James, Jack Owens, Son Thomas and L.C. Ulmer played there during their time.

A photo of Bentonia bluesman Jack Owens hangs by the back door

To get to Bentonia from Memphis take Hwy 61 south to the "Crossroads" in Clarksdale. From there, follow Hwy 49 south to the Skip James blues trail marker at the corner of Hwy 49 and Hwy 433/Wilson St. Turn left. After a couple of miles, the road makes a sharp dogleg to the right. Bentonia (pop. 419) is just a few hundred yards up on the left. The Blue Front Cafe is downtown across the railroad tracks.

As an added bonus for reading to the end, here's a black and white version of the woman at the register published in the December 2017 edition of Clash magazine.

Thanks for stopping by.

- Steve