Willie Farmer is living proof that Mississippi continues to produce deep blues. The 65-year-old guitarist is neither a soul modernist nor a revivalist, but a small-town auto mechanic who’s never shaken his love for old-school legends like Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Lightnin’ Hopkins.

A lifelong resident of tiny Duck Hill, located in the hills east of the Delta, Farmer grew up on his family’s farm. He picked up the acoustic guitar in his early teens, and after saving money from picking cotton, he bought his first electric instrument. He began performing at school events and local gatherings, learning blues and R&B by tuning into a powerful Nashville radio station.

In his early twenties, he joined a loose-knit band that played juke joints around the area, including Duck Hill, Grenada, Kilmichael, and deep into the Delta in Greenwood and Charleston. But he eventually grew weary of the rowdy club scene, where “people liked to fight like crazy.”

In 2003, Farmer helped found the Grassroots Blues Festival, held in a meadow outside Duck Hill. The annual event connected him with downhome blues artists from across Mississippi, including Willie King and Leo Welch.

Farmer’s first serious studio effort came with “The Man From the Hill” (2019, Big Legal Mess), recorded over several sessions at Bruce Watson’s Memphis-based Delta-Sonic Sound. Working in a North Mississippi Hill Country vein, the album features Jimbo Mathus and drummer George Sluppick, with Farmer also exploring gospel harmonies alongside Memphis’ Barnes Brothers.

For the past thirty years, he’s operated his own auto repair shop, but he hopes the success of the album and touring opportunities will let him finally step away from the garage. The Memphis Flyer called the record a “great album,” highlighting his playing as full of “rough-hewn strength and deep sensitivity,” while Relix Magazine noted that it “showcases Farmer’s gritty blues approach as he honors longtime influences like Lightnin’ Hopkins and Howlin’ Wolf.”

In his upcoming album At the Blue Front, Ryan Lee Crosby channels the ethereal sounds of Bentonia, Mississippi, through a live field recording captured at the legendary Blue Front Café, the oldest active juke joint in the U.S. In the spirit of folklorists like Alan Lomax and David Evans, the album was recorded on reel-to-reel tape at the historic venue owned by Grammy-nominated bluesman Jimmy “Duck” Holmes.

Supported by Holmes, Grant Smith on calabash, and Jay Scheffler on harmonica, Crosby delivers eight tracks that honor Bentonia and North Mississippi blues traditions while reflecting his own distinctive voice. The album, rich with spontaneously composed performances, centers on Crosby’s electric 12-string guitar, played in both standard and “crossnote” tunings.

Crosby’s journey into Bentonia blues began in 2012 after discovering the early recordings of Skip James. He started formal studies with Holmes in 2019, but his influences also include Jack Owens, Cornelius Bright, and Robert Belfour, Jessie Mae Hemphill, and RL Boyce—the latter two of whom he has performed and recorded with.

Dubbed “a young torchbearer of the style” by Smithsonian Magazine, Crosby blends deep tradition with personal mysticism. His sound is raw, immediate, and reverent to place and people.

He has earned features in Guitar Player, Premier Guitar, Aquarium Drunkard, Vintage Guitar, American Blues Scene, and WBUR (Boston NPR), among others. His performance credits include Juke Joint Fest, Meadowlark Fest, and Levon Helm Studios, and he has also worked with producer Bruce Watson of Fat Possum Records.