“Because it is beautiful, timeless sound, that is full of feeling… with a haunting quality that speaks to the spirit. The Bentonia blues is a kind of music that flows through the performer - it thins the veil between dimensions and connects us to something greater than ourselves.”

Ryan Lee Crosby: Blues at the Blue Front

Visionary guitarist Ryan Lee Crosby buckled his 1980s Tascam 22-4 four-track portable reel-to-reel tape machine into the back seat of a borrowed 2012 Toyota Venza, bracing it with towels on either side. He was about to leave his Portsmouth, RI home for the Blue Front Cafe, a juke joint founded in the 1940s in Bentonia, MS. The resulting new album “At the Blue Front” comes out August 20 by Crossnote Records. Under the tutelage of GRAMMY Award-nominee and last of the Bentonia, MS bluesmen 77-year-old Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, who runs the Blue Front as his mother did before him, Crosby patiently learned the Bentonia style. The Bentonia blues, which Holmes learned from the form’s originator Henry Stuckey as well as Jack Owens, depends upon a minor key open guitar tuning called crossnote and is often accompanied by falsetto singing. Its most famous exponent, Skip James, had stopped Crosby in his tracks when Ryan first heard the sound, and now Crosby was set to record in a room where James often performed. Even as he is respectful of the tradition, Crosby develops the style in his own way, using a 12-string electric guitar.        

(Ryan Lee Crosby / Photo by Lisette Rooney)

Holmes, whose last album was produced by Dan Auerbach, ended up sitting in on four songs, with the mic literally being spontaneously passed back and forth for vocals at times. He joins Crosby on the Mississippi standard “Catfish,” "Slow Down," and the improvised, apropos “Hard Times” and “Tell Me” with Holmes kicking off the vocal. In fact, the sessions also yielded the forthcoming Holmes album Bentonia Blues / Right Now. Joining Crosby is Grant Smith on calabash, a drum made from a gourd originating in West African music, inspired by the music of Boubacar Traoré, Ali Farka Touré and Farees. Crosby’s unique sound surely makes waves in the deep canon of Delta Blues music, and also keeps a crucial style of music alive and well in the 21st Century.

Interview by Michael Limnios                     Archive: Ryan Lee Crosby, 2022 interview

Special Thanks: Ryan Lee Crosby & Nick Loss-Eaton Media

How do you think that you have grown as an artist since you first started making music? What has remained the same about your music-making process?

I’ve gone through 4 or 5 distinct phases and styles since I started, including post-punk, songwriting, studying Indian classical music and playing the blues. What has remained constant throughout is a love of the drone, of syncopation, improvisation and working with tape.

Why do you think that Bentonia, Mississippi Blues Legacy continues to generate such a devoted following?

Because it is beautiful, timeless sound, that is full of feeling… with a haunting quality that speaks to the spirit. The Bentonia blues is a kind of music that flows through the performer - it thins the veil between dimensions and connects us to something greater than ourselves. And that’s always been the case, going back to the beginning with the work of Skip James, Jack Owens, Cornelius Bright, Tommy West and Jacob Stuckey, as well as the originator of the style, Henry Stuckey (who was never recorded). I also think the Bentonia style offers us a glimpse into the truth of what it means to be human, because when Jimmy plays, it sounds and feels completely real and trustworthy. It is pure and unfiltered. We need this kind of art in the world and on some level, people can recognize this, even if it’s subconscious.

“I think that technique is what we develop in order to express ourselves. To my ear, technique itself doesn’t inherently express anything - without feeling, intention, or purpose, it’s empty.“ (L-Photo: Ryan Lee Crosby, one of the best up and coming blues players at Blue Front Cafe, MS / R-Photo by Deke Rivers)

Currently you’ve one release recording live at the Blue Front Cafe. How did that idea come about?

I was inspired by some of the field recordings I heard which were made at the Blue Front, with Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, Cornelius Bright, Tommy West and others. I love recording live to tape and capturing a moment in time. The Blue Front is a very engaging atmosphere in which you can feel the history of the music and the people. I had wanted to do this for a long time and am happy it was able to happen. Jimmy was incredibly generous in letting me do this.

Are there any specific memories with Jimmy “Duck” Holmes that you would like to tell us about?!

One of my favorite memories of Jimmy is from a lesson on the Blue Front porch, some years ago. He showed me how Jack Owens played “Catfish” in a tuning a I had never heard of before, along with a version of Howlin’ Wolf’s “I Asked For Water” which reminded of the guitar style of Boubacar Traoré. Then he went on to play some Johnny Cash. This lesson gave me a much broader sense of the Bentonia blues and a feeling of a through line between Mississippi, Chicago and Mali. It gave me the feeling that everything is connected and it’s up to the individual to play what’s in their heart.

What's the balance in music between technique (skills) and soul/emotions? What is the role of a poet in today’s society?

I think that technique is what we develop in order to express ourselves. To my ear, technique itself doesn’t inherently express anything - without feeling, intention, or purpose, it’s empty. To be in balance, a musician needs to have awareness of what they feel and what they want to express, then devote as much time as is necessary to cultivate the technique required to convey their truth. I don’t believe that a lot of technical capability is necessary to create something beautiful - simply a purity of intention, clarity of purpose and as much technique as is necessary to express what is in a person’s heart. Some of my favorite players, like Jimi Hendrix, Ali Farka Touré and Debashish Bhattacharya are technical masters, but I enjoy Bernard Sumner’s playing in Joy Division and Johnny Ramone just as much. They all speak to my soul equally.

“I’ve gone through 4 or 5 distinct phases and styles since I started, including post-punk, songwriting, studying Indian classical music and playing the blues. What has remained constant throughout is a love of the drone, of syncopation, improvisation and working with tape.”

(Ryan Lee Crosby /Photo by Russell Kolts)

What are you doing to keep your music relevant today, to develop it and present it to the new generation?

In addition to sharing a love of the blues with my young students, I hope that my current work with analog production and improvised music may be of value to anyone who recognizes that the practice of creating from the inside out, using our innate intelligence, has its own rewards… and that while today’s technology is incredibly powerful and convenient, that there is something to taking the long road, to cultivating a true, felt sense of individuality in how we play and sound. When I make music and record on tape, I am thinking about not only the upcoming generation, but the one after it, too - especially those who may be interested in the blues and also those who realize that technology solves a lot of problems, but sometimes at the expense of our humanity. I believe the blues (and how we express them) can convey a lot of wisdom and guidance for listeners in the present moment and in the years ahead, as well.

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