Luther Brown, Inside Poor Monkey's

In the early twenty-first century, Poor Monkey’s is only reliably open Thursday nights, starting around 8:30 and closing in the early hours of Friday morning. This is the night Po’ Monkey calls “Family Night,” and many people in the Delta will tell you that the weekend starts then. Guests are met at the door, either by Monkey or one of his regular greeters. Admission is normally $5. A DJ plays soul blues, R&B, and soul. Beer and soft drinks are sold from the kitchen through a Dutch door. Many customers bring their own Crown Royal, which is acceptable as long as they buy mixers. By ten o’clock, although the lounge grows smoky and raucous, a code of behavior operates: no drugs, no violence, no disrespect.

The Poor Monkey crowd is made up almost entirely of local regulars, and is usually integrated. It is not uncommon to meet an American travel or blues writer or a visitor from Europe or Asia, and these special guests are taken around the room by Mr. Seaberry and introduced to the regulars, who are generally eager to talk. Crowds rarely exceed two dozen at any given time. Traditional blues bands as well as fraternities from nearby Delta State University sometimes book the lounge, but these uses don’t interfere with the Thursday night routine.

Seaberry's small space has also made a mark on the global landscape. Poor Monkey’s Lounge has been featured as a cover photograph of the Oxford American, a two-page spread in Annie Leibovitz’s American Music, photos in Vanity Fair and Esquire magazine’s Japan edition. Newspapers from the Memphis Commercial Appeal to the New York Times have published descriptions and photos. The floor plan of the lounge has been analyzed as an example of vernacular architecture in Mississippi Folklife. The Lounge and Willie Seaberry were featured in a two-hour Japanese television show, and a Voice of America television broadcast to Chinese viewers. Bluesman Floyd Lee filmed a portion of his bio-pic here, and websites feature the Lounge in English and French.

The Hiter family gave Mr. Seaberry a lifetime lease on the property. There are some locals who would prefer to see the place end after Seaberry’s death, since he is personally so much a part of it. Others would like it preserved, and some have even suggested that it should be moved and “cleaned up” as was done to the log cabin that Muddy Waters grew up in. The Delta Center for Culture and Learning is filing preliminary paperwork to have the building added to the National Register of Historic Places, and the Bolivar County Board of Supervisors renamed the nearby road, "Poor Monkey's Road." Tour groups stop here regularly, as do college students on field trips from around the United States.

NOTE: In early spring 2006, Seaberry started calling the Lounge, "Poor Monkey's Social Club."

This short clip offers a glimpse inside the space as blues musician Big George Brock performs.