Robert Johnson
This is about the blues musician; there are other men named Robert Johnson.
Robert Johnson (May 8, 1911 - August 16, 1938) is probably the most influential delta blues singer and guitarist in history. He was born in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. The commonly accepted birthdate is almost certainly in error; records from during his lifetime (school and marriage records) or immediately thereafter (a death certificate) suggest various dates including 1909 and 1912, although none support the 1911 date.
Robert Johnson recorded only 29 songs on a total of 42 tracks in two recording sessions in San Antonio, Texas in November 1936 and Dallas, Texas in June 1937. Thirteen of the songs were recorded twice. Notable among these tracks were Sweet Home Chicago, Cross Road Blues, Terraplane Blues, and Preaching Blues (Up Jumped the Devil), all frequently remade and imitated by other artists. Possibly the most awesome though, are Come On In My Kitchen and Love In Vain.
He died on August 16th, 1938 in Greenwood, Mississippi after falling ill three days earlier, allegedly as a result of drinking poisoned whiskey. It is claimed that his killer was the husband of a woman with whom Robert Johnson was having an affair. No arrest was ever made, and his death certificate simply says "No doctor" under cause of death.
Although frequently cited as "the greatest blues singer of all time" and even the most important musician of the 20th century, many listeners are disappointed by their first encounter with his work, possibly because of its age and unfamiliarity, and because of the quality of the recordings when compared to modern music production standards.
Exaggerated claims are sometimes made for Johnson's originality: he certainly did not invent the blues, which had existed on record for over fifteen years before he recorded. Johnson's importance lies in his recasting of earlier traditions into something new and better. His primary influence was Son House, who more than anyone else can claim to have invented the Delta blues, with his rough voice and searing slide guitar riffs. But Johnson added to this the keening whimsy of Skip James, and the jazzy inventiveness of Lonnie Johnson; indeed, a couple of his songs are nothing other than imitations of his famous namesake. Johnson had also listened to Leroy Carr, at that time probably the most popular blues singer, although hardly ever played today, as well as the more obscure Peetie Wheatstraw.
What Johnson did with these and other diverse influences was create a new sound that was at once immediate and artful. His use of the bass strings to create a steady, rolling rhythm can be heard on songs like Sweet Home Chicago, while his penchant for strange snatches of melodic invention on the upper strings, mingling with a quite different vocal line, appears on Walking Blues. Johnson played with the young Howlin' Wolf and Sonny Boy Williamson II (who claimed to be present at the fateful night when Johnson was poisoned, and even warned him against taking an open bottle of whiskey!). He also acted as mentor to Elmore James, and inspired the young Muddy Waters to take up the blues. All of these musicians and others who created the Chicago style of electric blues in the 1950s were, essentially, playing the music of Robert Johnson, plugged in. There is thus a direct line of influence from the early blues to post-war blues to early rock and roll and later rock music, and Robert Johnson is the pivot around which it all turns.
Years after his death, his fan club grew to include rock stars such as Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones as well as Eric Clapton. A recurring legend says that Johnson sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for prowess in playing the guitar. The legend was told mainly by Son House, but finds no corroboration in any of Johnson's work - despite titles like Me and the Devil Blues and Hellhound on my Trail. His contemporary Tommy Johnson, by contrast, actually claimed to have sold his soul to the Devil.
Samples
- Download sample of Robert Johnson's "Crossroads Blues"
Songs
- .32-20 Blues
- Come On In My Kitchen [two versions]
- Cross Road Blues [two versions]
- Dead Shrimp Blues
- Drunken Hearted Man [two versions]
- From Four Till Late
- Hellhound On My Trail
- Honeymoon Blues
- I'm A Steady Rollin' Man
- I Believe I'll Dust My Broom
- If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day
- Kind Hearted Woman Blues [two versions]
- Last Fair Deal Gone Down
- Little Queen Of Spades [two versions]
- Love In Vain [two versions]
- Malted Milk
- Me And The Devil Blues [two versions]
- Milk cow's Calf Blues [two versions]
- Phonograph Blues [two versions]
- Preachin' Blues (Up Jumped The Devil)
- Rambling On My Mind [two versions]
- Stones In My Passway
- Stop Breakin' Down Blues [two versions]
- Sweet Home Chicago
- Terraplane Blues
- They're Red Hot
- Traveling Riverside Blues [two versions]
- Walkin' Blues
- When You Got A Good Friend [two versions]
Books about Robert Johnson
- Love in Vain: A Vision of Robert Johnson, Alan Greenberg, Stanley Crouch, Martin Scorsese, 1994, ISBN 030680557X
- Searching for Robert Johnson, Peter Guralnick , 1998, ISBN 0452279496
- Robert Johnson: Lost and Found, Barry Lee Pearson, Bill McCulloch, 2003, ISBN 025202835X
- Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues, Elijah Wald, 2004, ISBN 0060524235
- Hellhound on My Trail: The Life of Robert Johnson, Bluesman Extraordinaire, Robert Wolf, 2004, ISBN 1568461461
- Robert Johnson, Mythmaking, and Contemporary American Culture, Patricia R. Schroeder, 2004, ISBN 0252029151
Films about Robert Johnson
- Crossroads, 1986
- The Search for Robert Johnson, 1992
- Can't You Hear the Wind Howl? The Life and Music of Robert Johnson, 1997
- Hellhounds On My Trail: The Afterlife of Robert Johnson, 2000