Juke Joint

"These photographs explore the wildly expressive interior decor of these bars with their spray-painted walls, hand-lettered signs, plywood floors, and well-kept pool tables." —David Featherstone, The Friends of Photography

"These photographs explore the wildly expressive interior decor of these bars with their spray-painted walls, hand-lettered signs, plywood floors, and well-kept pool tables." —David Featherstone, The Friends of Photography

Library Journal

Following its 1990 debut, this collection of 58 color photos of Mississippi juke joints has garnered quite a following, with original editions fetching handsome sums from dealers. The subjects mostly are dive bars, where cheap beer is served over plain wooden counters and a pool table is the main attraction. The photos are appealing, owing to their honesty; the long exposures preserve the ambient light and allow people to appear almost as ghosts. If you have the original, sell it off and replace it with this rerelease. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Birney Imes has had photographs exhibited in solo shows in the U.S. and in Europe, and his work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. With the help of his son, Peter, he manages a newspaper that has been in his family four generations.