To honor blues legends while inspiring new generations through authentic music and community.
Spit Cup and the Jukes are one of the newer bands to emerge from the Texas blues scene, but their sound is deeply rooted in the North Mississippi Hill Country blues tradition rather than the more common Texas blues style of artists like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimmie Vaughan, or Anson Funderburgh.
The band is based in San Antonio, Texas, and is led by guitarist and vocalist Ryan Washington. Washington developed a fascination with the hypnotic “Hill Country Blues” sound pioneered by musicians such as:
Unlike Delta blues, Hill Country blues relies less on traditional 12-bar chord changes and more on repetitive grooves, driving rhythms, and trance-like guitar riffs.
Ryan Washington initially tried learning the style from YouTube videos, but realized that the authentic sound couldn’t easily be learned secondhand.
One of the most interesting parts of the band’s history is Washington’s relationship with Robert Kimbrough Sr., son of Junior Kimbrough.
While his son attended Mississippi Valley State University, Washington regularly drove into northern Mississippi between baseball games to take guitar lessons directly from Robert Kimbrough Sr. Washington has described these informal lessons—often literally on Kimbrough’s couch—as the key to understanding the authentic “Cotton Patch Blues” sound.
Those lessons helped shape what eventually became Spit Cup and the Jukes.
Although based in Texas, the band quickly became accepted within the Mississippi blues community.
Their early appearances included:
In 2025 they made their debut at the famous Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, where festival attendees gave them rave reviews.
By 2026 they had become an official featured act at the festival, reflecting how quickly they earned respect among traditional Hill Country blues musicians.
Their music blends:
Rather than emphasizing flashy guitar solos, their music focuses on:
This makes them feel more like a modern continuation of the Kimbrough/Burnside tradition than a typical Texas blues band.
In 2026 the band released their first full-length album:
Spit Cup’s Juke Joint
Notable songs include:
The album was produced by fellow Texas musician Scott Lindsay (“Janky”), whom Washington met through the Mississippi blues community.
The band has begun appearing at several respected blues festivals, including:
Many newer blues bands imitate the sound of classic artists, but Spit Cup and the Jukes stand out because Ryan Washington sought out direct mentorship from one of the living heirs to the Junior Kimbrough tradition. That connection gives the band an authenticity that has earned respect from Mississippi musicians and audiences alike. Their rapid acceptance at Clarksdale’s major blues events suggests they’re becoming one of the more promising younger acts keeping the Hill Country blues tradition alive.
If you’re interested, I can also explain the origin of the band’s unusual name, “Spit Cup and the Jukes,” and identify who the current members are and what instruments they play.
