Ryan Lee Crosby
Every time visionary electric 12-string guitarist Ryan Lee Crosby returns to New England after visiting Bentonia, Mississippi, the feeling he experiences is a kind of revelation — one that emerges anew with each pilgrimage, recentering his perspective, offering a sense of purpose and urging him onward. Today, The Big Takeover premieres Crosby’s eerie, falsetto-sung “Mistreating People.”
To be more specific, Crosby’s destination in that tiny Yazoo County town is the Blue Front Cafe, the hallowed storefront venue established in 1948 and recognized today as Mississippi’s oldest juke joint. With the exception of one fairly recent addition — some welcome indoor plumbing — the Blue Front continues to appear and operate as it has for generations, under the proprietorship of bluesman Jimmy “Duck” Holmes.
Now 77, Holmes is the son of the Blue Front’s co-founding couple, Carey and Mary Holmes. He is also the greatest living practitioner of the Bentonia blues tradition made legendary by Skip James. Holmes essentially grew up inside this heritage at the Blue Front, and learned this soul-stirring music via the blues’ old-school system of apprenticeship.
Holmes has been an invaluable mentor to Crosby, in terms of both musical technique and sheer life-affirming fellowship. “He has a presence about him,” Crosby says, “a strong energy and vibrational feeling, even in quiet moments. This reminds me, at times, of Indian gurus I’ve met.”
Throughout Crosby’s remarkable new album, At the Blue Front (out August 20), these elements are palpable, delivering the listener not only to Crosby’s favorite physical space but also to his most cherished headspace. It was captured on a Tascam 22-4 reel-to-reel at the venue over two focused yet improvisation-rich sessions.
“This is an original composition in the Bentonia style, with a vocal that is a nod to Skip James and a guitar sound that draws influence from both Skip and Jimmy ‘Duck’ Holmes,” says Crosby. He continues, “The tempo and groove comes from Jimmy and the melodic runs come from Skip. Jay Scheffler’s harp, to my ears, evokes echoes of the Bentonia masters Jack Owens and Bud Spires, but Jay’s playing here focuses on melody and leaves a lot of space for the guitar to breathe. Grant’s calabash gently drives the song along with a polyrhythmic feel.
“Despite the mournful sound and understated delivery, the electric textures might remind us that this was recorded in a juke joint, in a concrete room on an old tape recorder. It’s introspective and low, but it still has a pulse that’s meant to get your foot tapping.
“Lyrically, ‘Mistreating People’ is a reflection on the notion that what you put out there comes back to you. Maybe we could say that it is a meditation on karma. As human beings, hopefully we are always learning and growing, but it is inevitable that we hurt each other along the way. And when we hurt each other, we hurt inside, too.”
“Mistreating People” features Crosby singing and playing electric 12-string guitar, with his trusted collaborators Grant Smith on the African calabash and shekere and Jay Scheffler on harmonica.
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