Chuck Berry once gave its owner a guitar, and Keith Richards has played there unannounced. So too have Jimmy Page and Robert Plant. Tonight, it's the Franklin Tully Band out of nearby Birmingham, Alabama, who are regulars on the pocket stage at what might be the last juke joint in the United States: Gip's Place.
Juke joints were once common throughout the segregated south, informal places – often in someone's home – where African Americans could gather and enjoy drinking, dancing, music... and maybe a few other things besides.