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Robert Johnson birthday - TIMH

+12 HS
John Cooper's lucky pig's picture
May 8, 2017 at 1:31pm
31 Comments

Perhaps the most important bluesman to ever live, Robert Johnson was born today in Mississippi in 1911. If you've ever heard a reference to the crossroads or selling your soul in rock/blues music, they're talking about Johnson. He was Faust writ large in real life and a master of the blues craft.

Like many early bluesmen, Johnson came from a hard scrabble childhood. He bounced around the South in his youth and eventually settled back in Mississippi. He lost two wives to death in childbirth, fell under the spell of the blues god that was Son House, sold his soul to the devil and learned guitar in addition to harmonica.

He was somewhat of a ghost and most of what is known about his life is second hand. Johnson became a wandering musician, traveling town to town to earn his living. While he finally was recorded in the 1930s, the majority of his work was on streetcorners and in ramshackle bars.

Johnson became the first member of the infamous "27 Club" (Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain, et al) upon his death in 1938. Like his life, his death is cloaked in mystery. Some say he was poisoned, some believe he was murdered by a jealous husband. Regardless of how he died, his brief life and sparse recordings were enough to make him one of the most enigmatic and revered musicians of the 20th century.

Many of his songs, including "Sweet Home Chicago", "Dust My Broom", "Love In Vain", and "Hellhound On My Trail", have become blues/rock standards. Robert Johnson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.

 

 

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