Robert  Johnson
The Man,  The Myth,  The Music
by  Joseph  R Renaud
 
 

        The musical genius of Robert Johnson was inspired by the circumstances surrounding his life, and his life's music have had a resounding effect on the music of today.   It is still a wonder how a man of myths, music, and a "rambling' life" could have such a long range effect on the music industry eighty years after his birth.   There were so many mysterious turns and crossroads in the life of Robert Johnson that it's difficult to pin down these facts.   From the beginning to the end of his life there were many unanswered questions about his days up to his death that remains a mystery even today.  This report begins in the early 1900's when the Blues were starting to become an unholy word among the working blacks, from which came many great artists.   During these times Robert Johnson was born and grew into a gifted musician who influenced many others during and after his life.

     It was May 8, 1911 in Hazelhurst, Mississippi.  It could have been a cold, dark, stormy night with hard rain and lighting, or the unveiling of satan's next son.   Whatever the weather, on that day Robert Johnson was born to Julia (Dodds) Major and Noah Johnson, out of wedlock.   The boy was her eighth child and most troublesome of his younger years.   She named him Robert Leroy, because it was a name she had like very much.    Robert's childhood life was not very stable and joyful compared to today's standards.   He was born into poverty stricken and narrow minded part of the black community.   Julia worked in plantations and work camps to make ends meet.   Trouble was always on her heels; this caused many short stays at any of these work places.   She then moved in with Charles Spencer, who was her first husband, who was with her before Robert's father and at that time went by the name, Dodds.   About 1918, she moved in with Willie "Dusty" Willis, a farmer and share cropper, who had a wife and kids also.   Robert lived there with his mother until he was 18 year old.   Dusty did not like his stepson's lackadaisical ways, and through he was no good.   This caused many arguments between them and Robert often ran away to neighbors and friends over the years.

     It was the period of the great depression which put a wall between the whites and blacks because of competition for the available jobs and food.   It was during this time his mother told Robert of his real father's name, Noah Johnson.   By the he had used many names, Leroy, Dodds, Saxton, and Sax, so Johnson became one more name on a long list Robert used as he traveled through the small towns of the south.   He never stayed in one place too long, but had many homes with women waiting for his rival.   They were always the ugliest and homeliest women around because they remained unspoken for and were more likely available when Robert passed through again.

     The first instrument he picked was a harmonica which got him into the juke joints and parties.   It was the start of many musical friendships with the likes of "Son House, Charlie Patton, and Willie Brown".   These men at first thought of this young boy as a kid in the way all the time, a bit of nuisance.   In 1927, Robert Johnson got his first guitar because these great Blues artists had so influenced him.   It was not long before his efforts turned very serious.   The music had made a tremendous impact on him, and he took hold of it for all it's worth.   The music of  "House, Brown, and Patton" was all the help and inspiration needed for a young man to keep the torch growing.   Many other artists had recorded by then, "Skip James, Koko Arnold, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Son House, and Lonnie Johnson".  Lonnie Johnson ws who made him keep "Johnson" for his last name and not his father.

     The times were hard and the music and the Blues were known as the devil's music;  playing such music meant becoming an outcast among the working blacks, who were mostly very religious.   These people started many folklore's.   For instance, in the mississippi area, a natural talent could easily be perceived as a devil given gift among the superstitious of the south.   The better Robert became on the guitar, the more he played upon this superstition to draw the crowds with songs  with a devilish theme.

     Robert mixed the clean sound of Jefferson's finger picking, Koko's heavy bass picking, the eerie slide and styles of Son House, and the rhythmic sounds of Skip James and Lonnie Johnson's single note leads to made his own style.   This all became a sound of his very own, not heard of in those times.   He wanted to be different and unique.   To the people who danced and partied to his music, it meant a good time that could release them from the evils of their bosses and work.  The music was their music and it told of their lives in all respects.

     In the fall of 1929, Robert had married Virginia Travis, and she was expecting a child.   Being a father was new to him and caused him to settle down and work while only playing on weekends.   This looked very good to her family and his, but this would fall apart at the seams.   Mother and child both died during child birth in August of 1930.   Virginia was just 16 years old.   Robert's life had been shattered and her family felt his evil ways had caused their daughter's death.   This prompted him to play harder and get deeper into the Blues, and the demon theme become more dominant in his music.  To any man, the loss of a wife and unborn child would be very tragic.   She was his real first love and the last woman he tried to settle down with.   Many at this time noticed how drastically his music changed and improved because of his loss.   Playing again every day with Son House, Willie brown, and others brought back feelings he had lost during the short time he was married.  He decided to get himself and his music together even more; that was his true calling.

     In the fall of 1930 he met a older woman named Callie Craft; she worship him, doing everything for him, and not complaining of his whereabouts.   While staying with Callie, he met a man who claimed to have learned how to play the guitar by sitting on top of gravestones.   He was dark and devilish looking man, by the name of Ike Zinnerman.   It did not matter to Robert how he learned the Blues.   He was good, and so he remained with Ike for a few years.   They stayed up all night playing songs over and over, digging deeper into the Blues.   Zinnerman became his coach and mentor, and maybe a father figure because of the age difference.

     As the years went on his real father was still on his mind, and he arrived in the Hela area.   The town was flourished with players who had recorded and some were old friends and mentors.   He knew he had become good enough to put his sounds on vinyl.   Robert could hear a song while talking with others and play it note for note, chord for chord.  Traveling throughout the south again, playing with the who's who in the Blues scene, had paid off.   Even House and Brown have said, "that he surpassed them in abilities and appeal." (1)    They were so astonished by the leap he made on the guitar in such a short time, since they both had last seen him.   At this time Robert was becoming very protective of his playing.  He wouldn't show anyone and if he noticed someone watching his fingers he would disappear for days and then show out of the blue.

     During these absences he continued to write songs with superstitions in mind.   Songs like "Hellhound on my Trail, Me and the Devil Blues, or Crossroads".   Crossroads spoke of the belief that musicians were called to the crossroads and were granted ungodly talent for their souls.   These songs and others that he had not written were in his repertoire but he drew on his own material more and more.   It was time to make the move to record, so off he went looking for a man named, H.C. Spiers, who had done some recordings of blacks artists, in the back of his store.  Spiers at the time was having trouble with the record companies, and all he could do was record one song and pass it along with his name to someone else in the industry.   The first song Robert did for Spiers was, "Kind Hearted Woman Blues".   A year had gone by before a man named, Ernie Ortle got in touch with him and brought him to San Antonio, Texas.   It was Nov. 23,1936 at the Guter Hotel.   Robert sat facing the corner in a very large room, singing and playing like there's thousands of people in front of him or back.   "Dust my Broom, Sweet Home Chicago, Rambling' on my Mind, and his biggest seller, Terraplane Blues" plus six others.  If Robert had not recorded again this would have carried on his legacy alone.  Then on Nov. 26,1936 he cut six more songs.   The next day he recorded, "Red Hot, Crossroads, and Walkin' Blues".   He used mostly slide playing for these recordings, which was in open tunings with a voice of raw passion.

 

     Throughout the south Robert played more wildly than he had before.   Drinking was becoming a big habit as well.   It was as though it was his last night to play.   The days passed by while the playing improved to ungodly techniques.  Seven months later Ortle brought him to Dallas, Texas.   This time to record his last sessions, most of the songs had more of the devilish theme in them such as, "Stones in my Passway, Hellbound on my Trail, Me and the Devil Blues, and Love in Vain", plus four others.

     After these recordings he came across a young boy, Robert Lockwood Jr, who was a son of a girlfriend.   He took this boy and started to teach him the Blues, taught him how to listen before he played.   In his last days he traveled with a man called, Johnny Shines, who loved to cut heads.  This term refers to street musician competition which involved playing on separate corners and seeing whose music drew the biggest crowd.

     In the end of 1937 and into 1938, Robert got to hear his recordings and had a hit with "Terraplane Blues".
 

     In the summer of 1938, Robert Johnson's world came to a halt; he was found dead after drinking from an open bottle at Three Forks juke joint.   It was believe that a jealous man poisoned the bottle.   Others believed he was shot or knifed but it remains unclear to this day.  At this time a talent scout, John Hammond, was putting on a "Black Spiritual" show at Carnegie Hall.   Robert was to be in the show and if he had appeared who knows how famous he would have become.   Big Bill Broozy took his place and two of his songs were played.  Despite all the facts surrounding Johnson's death, it stills remains a mystery.

     The mysticism and superstition that had surrounded Robert's life most often clouded the musical genius that he was.   His individual style had very dramatic effect on the revolution of Rock 'n' Roll today, and though many musicians could capture the feelings and soul of his music, his technique was always outside their grasp.

     In the years following Johnson's death many other artists like Muddy Waters and Elmore James were becoming famous by incorporating parts of Johnson's style as their own, James took "Dust my Broom" and made it his signature style while Waters took the slide and rhythmic feelings and expanded it for his very own.   The electric guitar was coming into the foreground now with artist such as Charlie Christian and Lonnie Johnson.

     In the 1950's there was the birth of  Rock 'n' Roll, which was called, the Son of the Blues.  These were Elvis, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, and Bo Diddley , while Gatemouth Brown and Lightnin' Hopkins were leading the way in the Blues.  The sixties started with many bands from Britain who took the American Blues and used it for the new British Blues sound, with groups such as the Rolling Stones, the Animals, the Yardbirds, and John Mayall's BluesBreakers.   In American new Blues artists came about' likes of Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Albert, BB, and Freddy King, but Muddy Waters was still leading the forefront.   These players used Johnson's music and made classic songs of "Sweet Home Chicago and Walkin' Blues".  Then in the late 60's and early 70's came artist such as Clapton, Cream, Allman Brothers, and the Butterfield Blues Band doing his songs like "Crossroads, Come into my Kitchen, and Ramblin' on my Mind".   Especially Eric Clapton recording and playing many of Robert's songs.

     Robert Johnson's first full album was released by Columbia Records in 1960, which featured only 15 of his songs.  This astonished many musicians because of the strong and  raw emotions on the album and made them sit down and rehash everything done up to that time.   Then in 1970, Columbia Records finally released the rest of Johnson's songs on a second volume.  All the songs on these two albums had a major impact on contemporary musicians.   Eric Clapton said, "Both of these albums, actually cover all my dreams musically, every angle of expression and every emotion is expressed on them both". (2)

     In 1991 a university put together an enlightening biographical video of Johnson's life, hosted by John Hammond Jr.   In the movie a researcher said. "knows of the man who killed Johnson, but was waiting for him to die before releasing the information in a fourth coming book", (3)  Keith Richards says, "His guitar playing was like Bach, and voice was so eerie and compelling, that it had a class of it's own", (4)  Johnny Shines said, "You could not their a Blues or Rock tune without one of Johnson's chords in them". (5)    These men and others have respected Johnson's music and life.

     There are three known places where Robert could be buried; one has a stone from Columbia Records, the second has a stone from his friends and musicians, and the last one remains unmarked.   On the death certificate is written "no doctor" for the caused of death, and signed by an unknown person.  There is a family of Johnson's who claim they are his descendants.  If this is true than Claude Johnson, and his boys, and grandsons would receive monies from Columbia Records, but so far it can't be proven.

     When Robert Johnson started it was only the man and his guitar.   it seems that this has some to a full circle, because these days its the "unplugged" recordings from artists that are on the charts.   The industry has turned on it heels, and got back to the basics.   What is next?  How much will always be available to listen to and enjoy, no matter what evolves.  One day the whole truth about Robert's death and life will surface more.   With time, it is always releasing information of truth or not about Robert Johnson, will see the light!
 

the End !
 
 
     
         1.   Obrecht, Jas. - "The Real Robert Johnson". ps/  some more new information!
 
 

Robert Johnson on Film?

        This information is from a magazine called, "guitar one: the magazine you can play.   October - 1998. pg.50., The below picture is from the magazine taken from an film still, which is old but one sees the possibility it could be him!  What I see is the master and cold heartedly wish it is him for the musical historic point of view too.  So I will try to give an small view of this article for the true fans out there!

    Shown here for the first time, this a still of Robert Johnson playing guitar and harmonica was taken from a recently discover film clip.....
Crossroad
NEWS
 ****************
 
     The story is written by Dave Rubin, whom was told by Duke Robillard that an friend had an picture or film of Robert Johnson and had to see, but took some time to get to this place and view this wonderful piece of historic event on film! So please support this and sent an message to all that is envolved with the film like Dave Rubin and Tater Red in Memphis.  Send letters to get it out on video for the fans!
 
    The film is about 48 seconds long, but where lots information on where, why, how and other related stuff this could be an 30min video forsure!  I hope the big shots with money and in the business of muisc like Plant and Page could invest some, for an good cause!

    I do hope this little information for the blues lovers out there don't affend anyone at all?  If it does please let me know!

Joe Renaud...
 

I will be putting more here of information, links and other tibites!


More places on the net for related stuff of the Robert Johnson times!

More of the Delta Blues on the net... Keep on finding more!

Documentary's that are out about Robert!

Get them if you can, thier great!

Also comin' very, very soon is Eric Clapton's tribute to Johnson on his new CD, it's great get it! Seen the preview on AMazon.com, end of March it's out!

 

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