Before Dub Rogers opened Natchez’ newest live music venue, he spent most days behind the counter of his other business, Steampunk Coffee Roasters. “We’d have so many international tourists come in who say, ‘We’re passing through from the Delta. Where can we go to catch some local blues music?’ I heard this hundreds and hundreds of times. It became embarrassing after awhile, and I thought We can do something about this.”
That something is Smoot's Grocery, a former Natchez corner store that flourished on Natchez’s North Broadway Street from 1939 until the 1970s. “On Saturdays, it transformed into one of the rompin-est juke joints on the river,” said Rogers, the kind of place where a whole lot of Natchez folks got their first beer back in the day. Over a year and a half, Rogers has resurrected the historic structure, which was literally held up by the paint, rebuilding from the inside out then wrapping the whole thing in old woodwork. “We used five or six different kinds of wood,” he noted, “including oak floors for a good dancing surface.”
They’ll need it. Thursdays through Saturdays Smoot's hosts high-quality regional bands playing America’s indigenous music forms—jazz, bluegrass, rockabilly, and all genres of blues. “It’s going to be mostly original music,” he said. “Not ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ and ‘Sally Ride.’ I want this to be live music where people come to be entertained. If we don’t have live music on, I don’t see the point in being open.” Thursdays–Saturdays at 319 North Broadway. $5–$20 covers. (601) 870-6882. smootsgrocery.com.
Look for a full article on Smoot's Grocery coming in the February issue.
