In memory of Robert Johnson! Robert passed away on this day in 1938.
"Me and the Devil, walking side by side."
~Robert Johnson~
May 8, 1911 – August 16, 1938
One of the most well known details of Robert Johnson's life is the legend that he sold his soul to the Devil at a country crossroads. It's embedded in our popular culture. Almost nobody brings up the idea of selling one's soul to the Devil without mentioning Johnson.
Blues greats Son House and Charley Patton played house parties and juke joints around the Mississippi Delta for fun and change. As Son House told it, when they'd stop in between sets, young Robert Johnson would go play around with their guitars, making a racket and annoying everybody around him. He simply couldn't play! Then he disappeared, (which wasn't unusual in those days) and came back a year or two later a blues guitar master. Nobody could figure out how he learned to play so well in such a short period of time. Folks said he must have sold his soul to the Devil to play that well. The fact that he came back with songs about going down to the crossroads (to make a deal), walking side by side with the Devil, and Hellhounds on his trail only added to the mystery. Not long after that, the Devil came to collect. Johnson died mysteriously at age 27.
There are a number of accounts and theories regarding to Johnson's death with most claiming he was allegedly poisoned from whiskey laced with strychnine. He was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame (1980), Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1986), Mississippi Blues Musician Hall of Fame (2000) and in 2006, he posthumously received the Gammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
this guys awesome, discovered him last week.. Blues music is so.. its hard to explain but I feel so sad yet so happy listening to it, perhaps my emotions are messed up lol
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