A virtual journey through juke joints

Phone lines and cords hang from the ceiling as Doughty shows correspondent Bruce Burkhardt where he records juke culture

In this story: Roque's Blues Hall ZZ's Annie Mae's Caf/Disco 86 Club Paradise and Pink Palace RELATED STORIES, SITES

(CNN) -- A juke joint is just "a place with a jukebox, usually, real cheap beer, low-maintenance surroundings and mostly black folks having a real good time."

So says Junior Doughty, a 57-year-old self-proclaimed Louisiana redneck with a 1983 Chrysler Fifth Avenue, a degree in cultural anthropology and a laptop.

"I was sitting in that chair one Friday night, the band was playing; this place was rocking. And I said to myself, 'Why don't I hit the Mississippi Delta and find places like Roque's Pool Hall, Grocery and House of Blues.' Then I said to myself, 'Well, why not write about it when you find them?' And that's how it all got started," Doughty said.

In 1997, Doughty started "Junior's Juke Joint," a Web site that documents the birthplace of the blues, the Mississippi Delta, and the juke joints and other hidden treasures tucked away on backroads and ramshackle neighborhoods.

Below is a sampling of his dispatches from the Delta, and the blues that inspired them.

Natchitoches, Louisiana

"If it's close to the end of the month ... get your blues-loving butt to Roque's Blues Hall in Natchitoches," writes Doughty on his Web site. "You will find yourself in what I consider the best juke joint/blues bar in the South and, therefore, the world.

"Stanley Roque (pronounced 'Rock') inherited Roque's Blues Hall from his father, who opened it in 1938 ... Stanley runs a tight ship. In my 100+ visits to Roque's, more than any other juke joint I've visited, I've never witnessed a fight. Roque's clientele consists mostly of black and Creole folks with a splattering of white folks, especially on band nights. Those white folks are about half local couples who know where to party and about half college students. But many nights, I've been the only white person in the joint."

"Easy Goin' Man," Roque's Blues Band
"Cane River," Roque's Blues Band
"Lost in the Blues," Roque's Blues Band

Ferriday, Louisiana

"They shoot pool a little differently at ZZ's. If you lose the game, you don't just walk away from the table like you do in most places. You rack the balls for the next player. Also, the only pocket you call is for the 8-ball. If you hit one of your balls first with the cue-ball and any one of your balls goes in a pocket, you keep shooting. A game costs 50 cents.

"I only thought I knew a lot of old blues songs. Y'all, I'd never heard half of the songs that played that Sunday afternoon in ZZ's at about 200 watts. We listened to B.B. King, Bobby Blue Bland, Little Milton, Elmore James, Lightnin' Hopkins, Jimmy Reed, Willie Dixon, Little Walter and God-only-knows-who-else."

"It's Been a Long Time," YZ Ealey Band

Waterproof, Louisiana

"I also found the Disco 86 itself, a juke joint I can only describe as like walking inside a Christmas tree. It probably contains a ton of hanging and nailed-up tinsel and glitter in every color of the rainbow.

"It's a big juke joint, about the size of the Flowing Fountain in Greenville, Mississippi. It seats about 400 people. Little Milton plays in the Disco 86 in December of most years, and he fills every seat.

"Why shouldn't he? Everybody would like to hear Little Milton sing 'Annie Mae's Café' in the original Annie Mae's Café, wouldn't they?"

"Annie Mae's Café," Little Milton

Hermanville, Mississippi

"This juke joint (Pink Palace)... is probably the most photogenic juke joint in Mississippi. The building is three side-by-side mobile homes with the common walls removed. That makes it probably the most unusual juke joint in Mississippi ...

"The jukeboxes in most juke joints will contain a country CD or two, usually by Patsy Cline, Garth Brooks, Hank Williams, Sr., and even George Jones. The jukeboxes in redneck honky tonks will usually have a CD by B.B. King or Bobby Blue Bland. Every good honky tonk's CD jukebox contains 'The Best of Clarence Carter,' which contains, of course, 'Stroking.'

"Imagine walking inside an edge-of-a-cotton field juke joint and there sits a CD jukebox. Imagine the music it contains. Makes me want to pitch my tent out back and stay a week or two."

CNNdotCOM Correspondent Bruce Burkhardt contributed to this report

"Easy Goin' Man," "Cane River," "Lost in the Blues" courtesy Roque's Blues Band. "It's been a long time" courtesy YZ Ealey. "Annie Mae's Café" courtesy Malaco Records & Music Group

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Junior's Juke Joint
Roque's Blues Band

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