Celebrated as the creator of Roseanne and co-creator of Home Improvement, brings decades of expertise from television, film, and theatre
Tony Award-winning producer (Spring Awakening) and Tony-nominated actress (Radio Golf), Tunie brings her unmatched vision and experience to the production
Two-time Emmy and Peabody-winning filmmaker, novelist, and playwright whose works include True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality and The Tuskegee Airmen
Tony-nominated songwriter (Paradise Square) blends her signature storytelling with the raw emotional depth of blues and gospel music
Legendary musician (Conan O’Brien’s musical director) infuses the score with authenticity, drawing from his decades-long career in blues and rock
The Artistic Director of The Acting Company (2021-present) and Founding Director of New Studio on Broadway, Tisch, NYU. BFA: Carnegie-Mellon. MFA: UCLA. Future productions include Stokely at NY Stage and Film, Delta Blue and the Guthrie production of Come From Away.
![From time to time we make it a point to highlight historical figures and/or landmarks that give real life context to the world in which the fictional story of our musical, Delta Blue, will be told.
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The Blue Front Café opened in 1948 under the ownership of Carey and Mary Holmes, an African American couple from Bentonia. In its heyday the Blue Front was famed for its buffalo fish, blues, and moonshine whiskey. One of the couple’s sons, Jimmy Holmes, took over the café in 1970 and continued to operate it as an informal, down-home blues venue that gained international fame among blues enthusiasts.
In its early years, the café was a local gathering spot for crowds of workers from the Yazoo County cotton fields. Carey and Mary Holmes raised their ten children and three nephews and sent most of them to college on the income generated by the café and their cotton crops. The café offered hot meals, groceries, drinks, recreation, entertainment, and even haircuts.
Music at the Blue Front was often impromptu and unannounced. The café seldom advertised or formally booked acts. Many itinerant harmonica players and guitarists drifted through to play a few tunes, but at times the musical cast included such notables as Skip James, Jack Owens, Henry Stuckey, Sonny Boy Williamson No. 2 (Rice Miller), and James “Son” Thomas.
[Courtesy of the Mississippi Blues Commission.]](https://deltabluemusical.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed/img/placeholder.png)