Robert Johnson

You can’t say that you love blues music if you don’t know anything about Robert Johnson. He revolutionised this style of music and countless artists took him as a reference point in the years which followed.

The story, full of mysteries and legends, starts in 1931 when Johnson played in Robinsonville. He played in front of a crowd with Son House among them. At the time, Son House was the most famous blues player and the most respected, nobody could play like him.

At the end of the gig, Son House approached Johnson to demand he stop playing, that he was a terrible guitar player. Obviously ridiculed and sad, Johnson left the city and stayed away.

In 1933, Johnson was back in town. This time around he gave a dazzling performance. Even Son House who was there again was overwhelmed.

So, what happened? What happened in only two years for Johnson to become the best guitarist of early century blues? Here the story starts to be legendary.

Johnson’s version of the facts is simple. He was walking in Mississippi alone, wondering what to do. He was lost, finding himself at a crossroads he sat and started to play. He described that next, the Devil himself approached him, took his guitar and tuned it. He played a little and returned it to Johnson. Not afraid for a moment, he almost found the situation normal. He had just made a deal with the Devil.

Obviously, the story is not exactly true in fact it was more a way to become better known. It captured the imaginations of Mississippi’s black community, because at the time, voodoo was present. A lot of people believed in witchcraft and sorcery.

The famous crossroads at Clarksdale, Mississippi.

The true story, however, is that after the big failure in Robinsonville, Johnson went back to Hazlehurst where he was taught to play guitar by the bluesman Ike Zinnerman. Robert then worked day and night playing without a break to master the guitar as fast as possible. Every Saturday night, he played in dozens of clubs all night long.

Despite the true story, a handful of people still believe that a spirit had inevitably worked with Johnson because it was simply impossible to be better than Son House.

His career then really kicked off, he started to play with Sonny Boy Williamson II, Elmore James and even Johnny Shines. His dream was to record his songs, which he did in the middle of the 1930s. He recorded 29 songs, such as the song “Me and the Devil Blues” in which he sang “me and the devil / was walking side-by-side”.

With only 29 songs he became known all around the world especially in the 1960s when musicians started to listen to Johnson again. He inspired hundreds of musicians stupefied by his talent, like Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix and Keith Richards.

When Richards was first introduced to Johnson's music by his band-mate Brian Jones, he asked, "Who is the other guy playing with him?", not realising it was Johnson playing one guitar. "I was hearing two guitars, and it took a long time to actually realise he was doing it all by himself" said Richards, who later stated that "Robert Johnson was like an orchestra all by himself".

Clapton said that Johnson had “the most powerful cry that I think you can find in the human voice”. Even today Johnson is still considered as one of the best guitar players of all time (he is ranked 5th by Rolling Stone magazine). His talent and art have lasted for decades through generations of players and listeners.

Johnson died in 1938 at the young age of 27. He is by the way the first, and so the creator of the Forever 27 club (even if the name was “popularised” after the death of Kurt Cobain -who died 25 years ago this week). It is an ominous club which assembles all the artists (mostly musicians) who died at the age of 27, such as Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones or more recently Amy Winehouse.

Johnson’s death was mysterious. The most probable causes of his death are the syphilis, or a murder. Actually, Johnson had an affair with the wife of a bartender, and for revenge the bartender had apparently put a poison in a bottle of whisky meant for Johnson.

One of the three Johnson's grave.

Finally, there is another mystery about Johnson. This time it is about his guitar. Nobody knows on which guitar he played for the two recording sessions, and even from pictures of Johnson and his guitar, nobody can recognise the instrument. Even his family said it wasn’t his guitar. And to this day it is still impossible to know exactly where this guitar is.

So where does the legend start? What is the truth in Johnson’s life?

With all these rumours about his life and death – for example we don’t know exactly where Johnson’s grave is, in fact there are actually three graves for only one man! – the myth has still a long life in front of it. The delta blues headed by this king, has still thousands of guitarists to inspire.