The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

The Blue Front Cafe in Bentonia, Mississippi (pop 400), is the oldest surviving juke joint in Mississippi and a key stop on the Mississippi Blues Trail.

Its proprietor, 74-year-old Jimmy “ Duck” Holmes, is known as the last of the Bentonia Bluesmen.

One of 10 children, Holmes took over running the cafe in 1970 shortly after his father passed away and continued to operate it as an informal, down-home blues venue that gained international fame among blues enthusiasts.

Along the way Holmes crafted his own take on the Bentonia sound, described as mysterious, ethereal, and haunting.

In October of 2019, in collaboration with producer and guitarist Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys, Holmes put out his 11th recording with the 2021 Grammy-nominated Best Traditional Blues Album “Cypress Grove.”

Almost 100 years ago, in 1931, the town’s most famous son, “Skip” James went north and recorded “Devil Got My Woman” for Paramount Records, which was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2020. But it was not until the early 2000s and the soundtracks from “O, Brother, Where Art Thou?” and “Ghost World,” featuring the aforementioned Hall of Fame song and “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues” that the general public would be introduced to the “Bentonia Sound.”

Grandson of Mississippi legend R. L. Burnside, Cedric Burnside was born into the blues. Like his father, Calvin, before him he backed up the legendary bluesman on drums and began playing professionally by the age of 13. After almost 30 years of performing and living blues within him, the hill country blues descendant is a conduit to the past. With the authenticity and gravitas of the giants before him like R. L. “ Big Daddy,” Junior Kimbrough, Othar Turner, and Jessie Mae Hemphill, he has created a body of work that resonates in the world of today.

Since he last played the Sisters Rhythm & Brews Festival, Burnside has continued to garner many accolades and awards, culminating in taking home the prize of Best Traditional Blues Album at the 2022 Grammy Awards.

The organizers of the Sisters festival say they could not be happier to warmly welcome Burnside back again this year.

Joining Cedric Burnside, Friday August 12, will be the boundary-breaking soul/blues/R&B fusion, Memphis combo Southern Ave., multi-instrumentalist Grammy nominated 24-year-old “Wonderboy” from Greenville, Georgia, Jontavious Willis, hailing from Austin Texas, nine-piece monster Latin-funk band Brownout, and, from McComb, Mississippi, “The Mississippi Blues Child“ aka “Mr. Sipp” will make his third Sisters appearance at this year’s Festival. Single-day tickets for Friday are available for $65.

Cedric Burnside will make his return to Sisters at the August 12-13 Sisters Rhythm & Brews Festival.PHOTO PROVIDED

Joining Holmes on Saturday, August 13, from New Orleans, is soul firebrand Nikki Hill, making her return engagement at Rhythm & Brews; Seattle’s Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, with a booty-shake blend of 1960s soul-jazz and slinky funk; Memphis-born and three-time Blues Music Award-winning guitar legend Eric Gales; from Chicago, Pokey Lafarge & The Northsiders, performing “Moanin’ At Midnight — The Blues of Howlin’ Wolf;” as well as the aforementioned Mr. Sipp. And, finally, Serbian-born guitar virtuoso Ana Popovic and her candy-apple-red Fender Stratocaster wraps up this year’s epic lineup.

Single-day tickets are available for $85. Festival passes remain on sale for $125.

For more information visit www.sistersrhythmandbrews.com.