lived. [... ] I have never found anything more deeply soulful than
Robert Johnson.” While the impact of Johnson’s music is evident, the
genesis of his remarkable talent remains shrouded in mystery.
For Johnson, born in 1911 in Hazelhurst, Mississippi, music was a
means of escape from working in the cotton fields. As a boy he worked
on the farm that belonged to Noel Johnson—the man rumored to be
his father. He married young, at age 17, and lost his wife a year later
in childbirth. That’s when Johnson began traveling and playing the
blues.
Initially Johnson played the harmonica. Later, he began playing the
guitar, but apparently he was not very good. He wanted to learn, how-
ever, so he spent his time in blues bars watching the local blues legends
Son House and Willie Brown. During their breaks, Johnson would go
up on stage and play. House reportedly thought Johnson was so bad
that he repeatedly told Johnson to get lost. Finally, one day, he did.
For six months, Johnson mysteriously disappeared. No one knew what
happened to him.
When Johnson returned half a year later, he was suddenly a first-
rate guitarist. He began drawing crowds everywhere he played. John-
son never revealed where he had been and what he had done in those
six months that he was gone. People had difficulty understanding how
he had become so good in such a short time. Was it genius? Magic?
Soon, rumors began circulating that he had made a deal with the devil.
Legend has it that Johnson met the devil at midnight at a crossroads
and sold his soul to the devil so he could play guitar.
Johnson recorded only 29 songs before his death in 1938, purport-
edly at the hands of a jealous husband. He was only 27 years old, yet
he left an indelible mark on the music world. There are countless ver-
sions of “Walkin’ Blues,” and his song “Cross Road Blues” (later reti-
tled “Crossroads”) has been recorded by dozens of artists, with
Cream’s 1969 version of “Crossroads” being perhaps the best-known
Johnson remake. Again and again, contemporary artists return to John-
son, whose songs capture the very essence of the blues, transforming
our pain and suffering with the healing magic of his guitar.PASSAGE 2There are more than fifty types of blues music, from the famous
Chicago and Memphis Blues to the less familiar Juke Joint and
Acoustic Country Blues. This rich variety comes as no surprise to
those who recognize the blues as a fundamental American art form.
Indeed, in its resolution to name 2003 the Year of the Blues, the 107th(10)
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