Hey 👋🏼 Y'all! Many of you may be wondering where we got the inspiration for our name from... Well, it's a cool story actually, and one that's deeply rooted in the history of the blues & live music in particular. The Juke of the past provided a home, and access to musical instruments for the local musician- as this was their greatest need. The Juke of the future provides a digital home and access to promotion tools and mentorship- which few musicians can afford.
Juke • Juke Joint • Juke House
The Inspiration Behind the Name
DEFENITION
Primarily found in lower income neighborhoods; and mostly in the southeastern United States, Juke Houses are the name given to a gathering place - providing drinks, gambling and dancing.
Long before there was a blues industry, there were juke joints. Generally, Juke joints were found in rural areas. Typically, they would have had a bar that fronted onto the street; often with a small stage & a dance floor, and a back room for gambling - and other extra curriculars...
Muddy Waters “We had these little juke joints / taverns at that time. On a weekend there was this little place in the alley that would stay open all night. We called them Saturday night fish fries. They had two or three names... They called ‘em juke houses or suppers”.
History of "the Juke"
Poverty made life more extreme, so folks found barns, shacks, anywhere - to play, sing and dance their sorrows away. Over time, these places became known as juke joints, jukes or juke houses. Generally found at rural crossroads, they catered to the rural work force; that emerged after emancipation.
During the 1930’s the travelling #DeltaBlues players used the Juke Joints as their regular gigs, and while local musicians played all types of music in juke joints the #Blues was their stock-in-trade.
Trivia
They were where players got inspired to pick up an instrument and learn to play it. -It was in a Juke that Robert Johnson watched #SonHouse, while #TommyJohnson studied #CharleyPatton.
How the Jukebox Got It's Name - The naming of the #jukebox was, of course, no accident; they are the ideal way of providing pre-recorded music in such establishments. - The #Jukebox was invented in 1927 by The Automatic Music Instrument Company using the world’s first electrically amplified multi selection phonograph (also their invention). **Coin-operated on-demand music machines date back to the 1870s, but the original term for them was nickelodeons (also used to describe nickel-driven movie machines). It wasn't until amplifiers came along in the 1920s that these music machines spiked in popularity, now able to offer bigger sound.