Thank You, Robert Johnson

My own personal theory of rock and roll goes something like this -first, Hank Williams, whose rockabilly inspired people like Chuck Berry, Little Richard and the like, which eventually translated into Elvis Presley, a black man's voice in a white man's body, and then mushroomed into an industry, branching out into Motown, San Francisco rock, surfer music and so on. Ironically, the mysterious, legendary Delta blues guitarist and singer Robert Johnson may very well be the true father of rock. The Rolling Stones have recorded "Love in Vain" and "Stop Breaking Down"; Cream made "Cross Road Blues" famous; I've heard various versions and variations of songs like "Stones in My Passway" , "Travelling Riverside Blues" and "Rambling on my Mind" from artists as diverse as Led Zepplin to John Mayall to - of course - Eric Clapton. Johnson's lyrics and blues riffs echo throughout Twentieth Century popular music.


The facts of his life are sparse: born in Hazleton, Mississippi in May, 1911; married twice, his first wife dying in childbirth at age 16, his second wife an older woman with three children whom he later abandoned; poisoned to death - supposedly - by drinking a bottle of whiskey laced with strychnine at the age of 27 near Greenwood, Mississippi. It seems that nobody really knows where he was buried - there are three different markers . Johnson spent most of his life as a performer travelling up and down the Delta, playing on streetcorners, with a woman in every town.


The myth of Robert Johnson revolves around a story that he cultivated, at least according to his fellow musician Johnny Shines. Johnson went to a crossroads at midnight to meet up with the devil, and handed his guitar over to Satan. The devil tuned it so Robert could play anything he wanted and then handed it back to Johnson in exchange for his soul. It is known that he started playing the guitar at the tender age of three and was also proficient on the harmonica.


Whether he took music lessons from Beezlebub or not,there is no question in my mind that Robert Johnson coaxed sounds out of his Gibson guitar that still resonate strongly from the grainy recordings he made in 1936 and 1937 at two different sessions in Texas. His biggest "hit" - Terraplane Blues" - sold about 5,000 copies. His ability to play rthymn and melody at the same time, coupled with sliding up and down the neck, create a unique, spellbinding sound, combining with Johnson's mournful wail to define Delta blues, at least for a generation of 60s and 70s musicians. His lyrics - as in "Stones in My Passway" - "Where did you stay last night? / Your hair's all messed up and you ain't talkin' right" - or "Come On In My Kitchen" - "The woman I love took her from my best friend/Some joker got lucky, stole her back again" - are just a few of the verses that have been incorporated into countless blues tunes.


Ironically, were it not for Keith Richards, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page - among others - deciding to emulate Johnson, he would have ended up a relatively obscure figure. Instead, Robert Johnson's life and legacy have made him into an icon, a towering but cryptic fixture of early Twentieth Century blues music.