Papa Turney's BBQ and Miss Zeke's Juke Joint
There remain substantial audiences for the blues, traditional R&B and soul music, and these artists have an enormous influence on new music, even though they no longer have songs in the Top 40 and seldom get airplay on contemporary corporate radio. Increasingly, the best places to hear them are the sites that have always been a welcome haven: family-owned venues that double as bars and restaurants.
Nashville has two such places where shows and jam sessions are regularly held: Papa Turney’s BBQ and Miss Zeke’s Juke Joint, and Carol Ann’s Home Cooking Café. Each offers its own cuisine that’s near and dear to many blues, R&B and soul fans — Papa Turney’s specializes in barbecue, while Carol Ann’s spotlights soul food on a menu that rotates daily. Both emphasize the comfortable, down-home feeling that’s a bedrock element of lyrics and performances in these musical traditions. The jam sessions and concerts held at both locations attract many of the city’s best in the idioms of blues, R&B and soul, and there are ample opportunities to see regional acts and, periodically, national ones as well.
Papa Turney’s and Miss Zeke’s was co-founded by married couple Mike and Gwatholyn Turney (aka Miss Zeke), whose operation began as a food truck. Their spot by the lake hosts blues jams on Wednesday and Saturday nights, and they have live music every day they’re open, Wednesday through Saturday.
Papa Turney's BBQ and Miss Zeke's Juke Joint
“We started having blues shows 10 years ago,” says “Papa” Mike Turney. “We wanted a place where everyone from the novice to the seasoned professional could share their music, have a full backline, and not have to bring anything.” Turney cites Chris Canas, Benny Latimore and Grammy-winning legend Bobby Rush among the memorable visits from nationally known performers who’ve graced their stage. Local favorites appear during the jams, including Terry “Goose” Downing, “Crooked Eye” Tommy Marsh and Lou Rodriguez. Saaneah, who appears on the compilation of Alice Randall’s songs My Black Country singing “Get the Hell Out of Dodge,” has the next night of her Soul Sundays residency on the books for May 26, while Jhett Black kicks off a summer concert series on May 31. A date hasn’t been announced, but Turney is looking forward to hosting 17-year-old blues prodigy Harrell “Young Rell” Davenport as well.
Carol Ann Criswell Jenkins, who sadly passed away in 2016, and her daughter Farrah Bradley-Young launched Carol Ann’s Home Cooking Café in 2005. Ever since, their stage has seen a prodigious honor roll of performers, including the aforementioned Bobby Rush and the late Johnny Jones and Denise LaSalle among many more. The second Tuesday of each month is the regular date for their jam session, called Grown Folks Night, which was started in 2010 by Jimmy Church, a longtime Nashville star of R&B and soul. While Carol Ann’s features plenty of more modern styles of music including hip-hop shows and neo-soul DJ nights, Grown Folks Night is all about looking to the roots — and that’s not genre-specific.
“Any music that is old-school is acceptable,” says Church. “It can even be rock ’n’ roll or whatever. The key is old-school music. … The performers have even come from other countries to perform. Everyone is welcome, and there is no limit. The biggest thing I get from it is seeing the faces of different colors coming together in sharing their joy.”
Papa Turney agrees that the sense of a shared experience is what makes the shows — jam sessions and ticketed concerts alike — at both venues so special.
“This place reaches past racial, spiritual and — on some days — emotional boundaries to accept the human family for what they are,” Turney says. “This jam will continue. It’s also attracting younger people who are into the old-school music.”
