It Is What It Is, by Jimmy "Duck" Holmes

It Is What It Is

by Jimmy "Duck" Holmes

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1.	Buddy Brown 05:36	buy track
2.	Pencil & Paper 05:35	buy track
3.	It Is What It Is 05:26	buy track
4.	Love Alone 03:53	buy track
5.	Evil 06:26	buy track
6.	It Had To Be The Devil 05:48	buy track
7.	So Glad 04:15	buy track
8.	Slow Down 04:00	buy track
9.	It Is What It Was 05:29	buy track

about

Jimmy “Duck” Holmes
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“Make No Mistake: Jimmy Duck Holmes is a major blues figure, the most important active performer in the country blues tradition.”
Paste Magazine

“Jimmy Duck Holmes sings with a deep soulful phrasing.”
New York Times Review

“Command performance ... hypnotic ... perfect ... when you can get your hands on something this legendary, you do it, without hesitation."
American Blues Scene Magazine

"His themes are dark and moody, and his guitar work is simple yet stunning, building a hypnotic reverie on each track.
Holmes … proves that the real blues are indeed not dead and buried. If you’re a deep blues fan, this is an essential modern recording.” – Vintage Guitar Magazine

"Hypnotic. . . compelling . . . . Blues enthusiasts who enjoy their blues raw and honest will relish It Is What It Is"
Living Blues Magazine

“His originals are as low-down as anything by Son House, Charlie Patton, or even Robert Johnson. Holmes is the heir to such blues and deserves a pedestal so more people can hear the real thing.” Classicalite Magazine

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Jimmy “Duck” Holmes is the embodiment of raw country blues as one of the most original and uncompromising acoustic blues musicians playing today. From his first, Back to Bentonia (2006), to his most recent, It Is What It Is (2016), Duck’s albums have won numerous blues music awards from the Blues Foundation, the Living Blues Critics, and other organizations, and been named to annual top ten blues albums by NPR, Paste Magazine, Living Blues and others. Duck and his rhythmic and haunting minor tuned blues have been featured in numerous documentaries and programs by the BBC, Netflix, and independents including the acclaimed Canadian documentary I am the Blues, which won Best Feature Length Documentary at the Canadian Screen Awards.

Duck’s importance as a blues musician was recently recognized when the State of Mississippi featured him on the Mississippi Bi-Centennial Forever Stamp issued by the United States Postal Service. Duck has developed fans across the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan and South America through appearances at various festivals and by attracting fans to Bentonia for the past 46 years to the Bentonia Blues Festival, held the week ending on the third Saturday in June each year. In 2018, Duck appears on Rose Hill, the new album by Mike Munson, and in spring 2019 is releasing Surubi, a new album he recorded in Bolivia.

Duck is referred to as the Last of the Bentonia Bluesmen since he is the last direct musical descendent of Henry Stuckey, Skip James and Jack Owens. After Henry Stuckey and Skip James passed, Jack Owens continued Jimmy’s instruction while the two would sit and play at the Blue Front Café, the oldest surviving juke joint in Mississippi. Started in 1948 by Jimmy “Duck” Holmes’ parents, Jimmy took over the old juke in 1970. The local blues musicians would meet at the Blue Front, shoot pool, have a few drinks and play for each other. Today, Blues fans from all over the world travel to the Blue Front to soak in its history and hear authentic Blues from Jimmy “Duck” Holmes and others.

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released June 17, 2016

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Jimmy "Duck" Holmes Bentonia, Mississippi

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