Today, May the 8th, 2011 would mark Robert Johnson's 100th birthday. Some folks may not know who Robert is, but he is (or at least could be) considered the most influential blues-musician, if not the most influential musician of all time.
Robert Johnson was in 1911, which is just a speculation of dates, really. No one is exactly sure but we can trace it back to this day most accurately. He was born in a small town called Hazlehurst, Mississippi. Robert had sort've a troubled childhood. It involved him moving around quite a bit, from his hometown to Memphis to Arkansas, and all sorts of other places. This didn't stop his education though, as many remember Robert to be a fairly good student, who enjoyed playing harmonica and jaw harp. He had several "fathers" one, his birth father, had the last name of Johnson, but his father by his mother's marriage had a different name. Robert went by several last names until signing his marriage license as "Robert Johnson" taking after his birth father. His wife, Virginia, died after childbirth in 1929, to which her relatives called it a punishment by the divine for "selling his soul to the Devil" to sing "secular songs." A bluesman researcher claims that Robert Johnson used this phrase as a transition period from husband and farmer to full time bluesman. Several people remember Johnson as an excellent harmonica player, but a pitiful guitarist. Robert spent time moving around trying to head back to his hometown of Hazlehurst (in search for his father, perhaps) and in this time he perfected his guitar playing skills by meeting other musicians. In this time, Johnson fathered a child to one lady, and married another. The lady he married fell ill and out the door Johnson went, he abandoned to her to be a walking musician, going around singing the blues.
This time in Johnson's life gets hard to arrange in a biography. He lived so...oddly that you really can't piece it together. He switched towns even more, used different names, and it just became damn tricky to follow him. Whenever Johnson arrived in a new town, he would stand outside of barber shops, or even on the street corner and play for tips. At these performances it was noted that often times, Johnson would not play his own blues songs, but pop songs of the times. Johnson had no trouble in pleasing the crowd, he usually made some sort of connection to the peopel there, so when he next passed through town he have a nice welcoming spot to stay in. In about 1936, Johnson met a general store owner and a talent agent, H.C. Spier in Jackson, Mississippi. He then refered Robert to go see Ernie Oertle. Oertle told Johnson he would let him record down in San Antionio, Texas. So, off Robert went. Johnson supposedly recorded facing a wall, to which a lot of people atribute his reserved nature (playing a gig, collecting money, leaving immediately) but, it seems that it was a technique devised by Robert called "corner loading." Facing the wall would enhance his guitar sound. In three days, Johnson recorded sixteen songs, plus alternate takes of these songs. Some of the songs Johnson recorded were "Come On In My Kitchen", "Kind Hearted Woman Blues", "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" and "Cross Road Blues". The first songs to show up were "Terraplane Blues" and "Last Fair Deal Gone Down", most likely the only recordings of him he would ever hear. "Terraplane Blues" was a slightly big regional hit, selling 5,000 copies. In 1937, Robert travlled to Dallas, Texas for a second recording session. Eleven records came from this and would be released in the coming year.
Johnson died in August of 1937 on the 16th at the young age of 27 close to a town called Greenwood, Mississippi. Several stories surround his death, one is that Johnson got a little too cosy with a juke-joint owners wife. Who, when she gave Johnson some whiskey, didn't know that her husband had put poison in it. A different telling is that Johnson was offered a bottle of whiskey by a married woman completely unrelated to the juke-joint owner. Johnson accepted, but the whiskey was laced with strychnine. A blues legend named Sonny Boy Williamson warned Johnson to never accept an already opened drink, to which Johnson replied: "Don't ever knock a bottle out of my hand!" Johnson accepted another drink, laced with strychnine and in the morning hours was very weak and had to be helped to his room. It was reported over the next three days Johnson's condition slowly worsened and he eventually died in his room. No one is even sure where Johnson's resting place is. Since he died poor, that's how he was buried. Some folks say it's close to his hometown, some say it's in a field near where he died.
As all good stories come to an end, several more spiral out of it. As I mentioned earlier it was percieved that Johnson sold his soul to the Devil, which made his guitar skills become masterful in such a short period of time. The story is that as a young man, Johnson was supposed to meet a man out behind a plantation. When he arrived, a big black man was standing there. He took Johnson's guitar, tuned it up, played several songs, and handed it back to Johnson. This, is how Johnson became such a master of the guitar. Johnson even claimed himself that he sold his soul to Satan in songs like the Crossroads Blues and Me and the Devil. In "Devil" he croons: "Early this morning when you knocked upon my door/Early this morning, umb, when you knocked upon my door/And I said, 'Hello, Satan, I believe it's time to go,'" before leading into "You may bury my body down by the highway side/You may bury my body, uumh, down by the highway side/So my old evil spirit can catch a Greyhound bus and ride." Heard of Cream? The band? Their song "Crossroads" is a cover of the Crossroads Blues, where they suggest it more heavily that Johnson sold his soul.
All in all, Robert Johnson was a master of the blues and as such is regarded as the Father of the Delta blues. He never experienced the fame and fortune he should have as a young man, he only got his name really out there in the 60's when "King of the Delta Blues" was released. It was a compilation of all of Robert's works, and you can probably find CD copies of it at most music-retail stores that have a "Blues" section. Robert influenced such famous musicians like Eric Clapton, Jerry Garcia, Robert Plant, Brian Jones, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Fleetwood Mac, and many, many more.
MEDIA:
[img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/bb/RobertJohson.png[/img]
One of the 2-3 acutal pictures of the Father of the Delta Blues.
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd60nI4sa9Ap[/media]
Crossroads Blues
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MCHI23FTP8[/media]
Me and the Devil Blues
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkftesK2dck&feature=related[/media]
Sweet Home Chicago
Guy is a legend, litterally. I love Walkin' Blues!
[editline]8th May 2011[/editline]
Robert Johnson influenced the influences.
[editline]8th May 2011[/editline]
Dawg.
Glad you like him too. I've become entranced by the Blues lately. I love it so much now. I'm glad I found out about Robert Johnson when I did!
That's awesome, you should also check out Big Bill Broonzy, he was active around the same time, but he played more folk/blues.
What a man...
Happy centurial Birthday. :v:
I'll play Sweet Home Chicago in his memory today.
He was really one of the best musicians ever to live, no formal musical education yet he was clearly a natural at it. I love analyzing the written tracks of his songs, there's just so much going on.
Anyways, I believe I'll dust my broom down at the crossroads after I repair my terraplane. Tired of those walking blues.
He sold his soul for rock and roll!
Love 'im
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