Jimmy 'Duck' Holmes announces new album It Is What It Is

Jimmy ‘Duck’ Holmes has announced he’ll release his new album It Is What It Is on June 17.

The follow-up to 2013’s All Night Long will be released through Holmes’ own label, Blue Front Records. He also made track Buddy Brown available to stream.

The singer is described as, “The embodiment of raw country blues and is regarded as the last of the Bentonia, Mississippi bluesmen.

“Jimmy is the last person taught the blues by Henry Stuckey, the man who taught Skip James and Jack Owens. His music evokes the dry, ghostly sounds of his mentors.”

Holmes has scheduled a string of dates in support of the album this year, including an appearance at New Orleans Jazz Festival in April and a mini-tour in Bolivia in South America later this summer.

Jimmy ‘Duck’ Holmes tour dates 2016

Apr 16: Clarksdale Juke Joint Festival, MS
Apr 24: New Orleans Jazz Festival, LA
Apr 24: New Orleans Chickie Wah Wah, LA
Apr 28: Smoot’s Natchez, MS (Album Preview party)
Apr 29: Memphis Beale Street Music Festival, TN
Jun 10: Lexington (venue to be announced), KY
Jun 17: Bentonia Blue Front Cafe, BS
Jun 18: Bentonia 44th Annual Bentonia Blues Festival, MS
Jun 25–Jul 3: Bolivia Tour, venues TBA
Jul 8–9: Nescopeck Briggs Farm Blues Festival, PA
Jul 22, 23: Long Island John Brown’s Smokehouse, NY
Jul 31–Aug 7: Port Townsend Blues School & Festival, WA
Aug 12-14: Clarksdale Sunflower Blues Festival, MS
Oct 08: Woodville Music Festival, MS
Oct 15: New Orleans Crescent City Blues & BarBQ, LA

Former TeamRock news desk member Christina joined our team in late 2015, and although her time working on online rock news was fairly brief, she made a huge impact by contributing close to 1500 stories. Christina also interviewed artists including Deftones frontman Chino Moreno and worked at the Download festival. In late 2016, Christina left rock journalism to pursue a career in current affairs. In 2021, she was named Local Weekly Feature Writer of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards.