If you’re lucky in this life, sometimes you meet a person who changes your world for the better in a big way. For Robert Connely Farr, that person is Jimmy ‘Duck’ Holmes.
Several years ago, during a trip back to his Mississippi birthplace, the Vancouver singer-songwriter and guitarist met and jammed with the veteran Bentonia bluesman at his Blue Front Cafe, the oldest surviving juke joint in the state. That chance interaction — which quickly blossomed into a personal friendship and musical mentorship — fundamentally changed Farr’s artistic trajectory, launching him on the deeper, darker and more dangerous path he treads on his swampy southern-fuelled album Shake It, his biggest, baddest and blusiest release to date. Shortly after Shake It arrived, Farr Zoomed in from his EastVan home (and the Mississippi Delta, sorta) to talk about songwriting, the blues, working with Holmes and plenty more. Enjoy.
