Blues

Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes - It Is What It Is (2016)

2019-12-30T16:39:36Z

Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes - It Is What It Is (2016)


A1 	Buddy Brown 	5:37
A2 	Pencil and Paper 	5:35
A3 	It Is What It Is 	5:26
A4 	Love Alone 	3:53
B1 	Evil 	6:27
B2 	It Had To Be the Devil 	5:49
B3 	So Glad 	4:16
B4 	Slow Down 	4:00

Jimmy "Duck" Holmes - Vocals, Guitar, Harp

Bentonia blues are a style of the blues born in a tiny town in Mississippi. Skip James was the first famed artist who used that distinctive open-E minor chord tuning. Jack Owens continued that style and now Jimmy “Duck” Holmes continues in the Bentonia school of music style. Throbbing rhythms and moaning vocals are not every listener’s cup of tea, but it is a cool and primal sort of sound that grabs you and does not let go.

The traditional “Buddy Brown” opens the album. Things starts off with a heavy solo cut where Holmes plays a heavy RL Burnside style throbbing, hypnotic guitar and testifies to us vocally. Following that is “Pencil and Paper,” another rhythmic beat with some nice guitar picking and percussive slapping/tapping that carry the tune. The vocals tell a story of wanting to get in touch with his woman- he’s got no phone and wants to just drop her one or two lines. Holmes blows a little harp here, too. Next is “Love Alone” where Holmes tells us love alone won’t do in life. The acoustic guitars’ simplicity and his howling lyric match up well. “Evil” is another traditional cut and Holmes gives it his all in that minimal approach he takes with songs. Evil has taken his woman and wrecked his life and now it’s about to take his wife. Holmes blows some more guttural harp here as he strums out the rhythm.

“It Had to Be the Devil” is the third and final traditional cut. Holmes uses his electric guitar and lots of distortion here as he groans and shouts out the lyrics. “So Glad” returns to the brighter acoustic sound as Holmes belts out the simple but effective lyrics. “Slow Down” takes the tempo way down as Holmes moans for us once again as he tells his girl she’s moving too fast and that she needs to change her ways. He finishes with “It Was What It Was,” a song where Holmes sings about longing for freedom.

Six originals and three traditional tunes are what is offered. Dick Waterman wrote the liner notes and books Holmes. Produced Michael Schulze runs the record label and tells us in his notes inside the cover that he’s working to preserve this music. Henry Stuckey created Bentonia Blues and never got recorded. Schulze wants to capture this raw and primitive music for us and recorded the songs in the Blue Front Café, an old juke joint. Trains, ceiling fans and other noises move in and out of the recording, adding a charm and authenticity to the music. The place was home to Stuckey, Skip James and the other Bentonia bluesmen and serves as a great canvas to capture this music.

I will warn the unwary listener that this may not be your style of music. The music is simplistic yet complex. It is repetitive yet flowing. It brings us to a period and place where perhaps time has stopped and we get to sample music in a form as it was one hundred or more years ago. You may not like the dissonance. You may not like the other worldly-ness. But then again, it may just seduce you and make you want some more. ---Steve Jones, bluesblastmagazine.com

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Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes - Done Got Tired Of Tryin' (2007)

2015-03-28T16:47:16Z

Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes - Done Got Tired Of Tryin' (2007)


1. Cherry Ball	3:51
2. Pencil and Paper	7:20
3. Baby Gal	3:52
4. Biscuit Roller		4:41
5. Blue Front Breakdown!	4:10	
6. Train I Ride	7:16	
7. Catfish Blues		3:19	
8. Wake Up, Woman	4:47
9. Could've Been Married	6:58
10. It's Over	4:47

Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes – guitar, vocals
Lightnin’ Malcolm – drums (2,5,6,9)
Bud Spires – harmonica (7)

A year after the release of his critically lauded debut CD, blues guitarist Jimmy “Duck” Holmes returns with a second slab of deep country blues. Done Got Tired of Tryin’ features 10 new songs performed in the haunting Bentonia, Mississippi style of Holmes’ predecessors, Skip James and Jack Owens. But Holmes also incorporates strong rhythmic elements into his music, thanks to the rousing accompaniment of drummer Lightnin’ Malcolm on several tracks.

The songs on Done Got Tired of Tryin’ stem from two recording sessions held at the Blue Front Café, the rural juke joint Jimmy’s family has operated since 1948. The juke is believed to be the oldest operating juke joint in Mississippi. The CD includes Holmes’ interpretations of several blues classics including “Catfish Blues,” “Train I Ride” and the Bentonia classic, “Cherry Ball.” The remaining tracks spotlight Holmes’ powerful songwriting. Tracks such as “Pencil and Paper” and “Biscuit Roller” display a songwriting voice as strong as any in the country blues world today.

Done Got Tired of Tryin’, like Holmes’ debut Back to Bentonia, will be released by St. Louis-based Broke & Hungry Records. The label also is responsible for Searching for Odell Harris, the debut from 66-year-old Odell Harris and Meet Me in the Cotton Field by Clarksdale blues veterans Terry “Big T” Williams and Wesley “Junebug” Jefferson. ---cdbaby.com

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Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes - Back To Bentonia (2006)

2015-03-18T16:41:29Z

Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes - Back To Bentonia (2006)


1. I’d Rather Be The Devil
2. Cool Water
3. Hurry, Hurry, Hurry
4. Count The Days I’m Gone
5. Vicksburg Blues
6. Six Little Puppies
7. Mr. Taxi Driver
8. Duck’s Shuffle
9. Hard Times
10. Back To Bentonia
11. Your Buggy Don’t Ride Like Mine

Jimmy “Duck” Holmes - guitar & vocals 
Bud Spires - harmonica (tracks 1, 4, 11), vocals (11)
Sam Carr - drums (tracks 2, 5, 8)

Broke & Hungry Records is a St. Louis-based independent record label dedicated to recording and releasing authentic country blues. Back to Bentonia represents both the debut CD for the 58-year-old Holmes and Broke & Hungry Records.

Much like a worn-out, favorite pair of blue jeans that you feel most comfortable in, maybe sitting on the front porch watching life slowly pass by, Back to Bentonia takes us to a simpler time of gut wrenching heavy soul & Delta blues. The famed juke joint owner, Duck Holmes shares his music from the sounds and styles of Skip James and Jack Owens. --- stlblues.net

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Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes - Ain't It Lonesome (2009)

2015-03-15T16:40:38Z

Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes - Ain't It Lonesome (2009)


01. Slow Down, Slow Down (3:42)
02. That's Alright (5:21)
03. All Night Long (3:27)
04. Done Got Tired Of Tryin' (3:00)
05. My Baby's Gone (5:02)
06. Bentonia Boogie (3:39)
07. Someday Baby (3:10)
08. So Glad (My Baby's Coming Home) (3:19)
09. Tell Me Woman (5:02)
10. Nightmare (3:58)

Jimmy "Duck" Holmes – guitar, vocals
Lee Wiliams – drums (3,6,9)

Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, the rural Mississippi blues guitarist who burst onto the international blues scene in 2006, returns this fall with Ain’t It Lonesome, his third CD for Broke & Hungry Records and his fourth overall.

As on Holmes' previous CDs for Broke & Hungry Records, several tracks on Ain’t It Lonesome were recorded at the Blue Front Cafe, the rural juke joint that Holmes and his family have operated in Bentonia, Mississippi since 1948. Additional tracks were recorded at Bill Abel’s Big Toe Studio in Duncan, Mississippi.

Holmes conjured up several haunting acoustic originals for the CD, including “My Baby’s Gone,” “Nightmare” and “Done Got Tired of Tryin’.” The latter song provided the title of Holmes’ sophomore CD in 2007, but the song itself has remained unreleased until now. In addition to the solo acoustic tracks, Holmes offers up several searing electric performances accompanied by Clarksdale, Mississippi-based drummer Lee Williams. These titles include the driving “All Night Long” and the menacing “Tell Me, Woman.”

“It’s always a thrill to release a new Duck Holmes CD,” said Broke & Hungry Records owner Jeff Konkel. “The Bentonia blues tradition made famous by Skip James and Jack Owens, is alive and well in his hands, and I think this new CD really captures its essence.”

Holmes first made waves in the blues scene with the 2006 release of his award-winning debut CD, Back To Bentonia. He followed it up with a sophomore disc in 2007, Done Got Tired of Tryin’, which was nominated for a Blues Music Award as Acoustic Album of the Year. Last year, Holmes appeared in the Blues Music Award winning film M For Mississippi. ---cdbaby.com

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