The Blue Front Café is a historic old

juke joint Juke joint (also jukejoint, jook house, jook, or juke) is the African-American vernacular term for an informal establishment featuring music, dancing, gambling, and drinking, primarily operated by African Americans in the southeastern United St ...

made of

cinder block A concrete block, also known as a cinder block in North American English, breeze block in British English, or concrete masonry unit (CMU), or by #Naming, various other terms, is a standard-size rectangular block used in building constructio ...

in Bentonia,

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

on Highway 49, approximately 30 miles northwest of

Jackson Jackson may refer to: Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson oil field in Durham, ...

, which played an important role in the development of the

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

in Mississippi. The café has been given a marker and officially placed on the

Mississippi Blues Trail The Mississippi Blues Trail was created by the Mississippi Blues Commission in 2006 to place interpretive markers at the most notable historical sites related to the birth, growth, and influence of the blues throughout (and in some cases beyond) t ...

. It is owned by blues musician Jimmy "Duck" Holmes. Located in the southern portion of the

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazo ...

in Yazoo County on Highway 49, the field hands from the surrounding cotton plantations gathered at the Blue Front Café for relaxation and entertainment. This is the birthplace of a blues style known as Bentonia School. The venue is profiled in the 2015 documentary film '' I Am the Blues''. The venue is featured prominently in

The Black Keys The Black Keys are an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Akron, Ohio in 2001. The group consists of Dan Auerbach (guitar, Singing, vocals) and Patrick Carney (Drum kit, drums). The duo began as an Independent music, independent act, record ...

music video for their cover of " Crawling King Snake".

References

Mississippi Blues Trail Buildings and structures in Yazoo County, Mississippi Tourist attractions in Yazoo County, Mississippi Music venues in Mississippi {{Coord, 32.640732, -90.364758, display=title