Recently I've been getting into old blues music specifically Delta Blues and one of the artists that intrigues me the most is Robert Johnson. His music inspired artists like Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin and many more. His interesting style changed music forever. So today we will dive into what very little information is known about this man and the creepy theory behind one of the most influential man in music.
Robert Leroy Johnson was born May 8 1911 in Hazlehurst, Mississippi to parents Julia Major Dodds and Noah Johnson. When he was young Roberts mother married Charles Dodds. Charles was forced to leave Hazlehurst by a local Lynch mob. Julia and Robert moved to Memphis with Charles In 1913. Later on Johnson's mother married a second time and moved to Robinsonville, Mississippi. Johnson would learn harmonica and pick up the guitar. In 1929 he married Virginia Travis and was expecting a child. Sadly Virginia passed away during childbirth along with the baby.
Robert Johnson would eventually start hanging around blue legends like Son House and Charley Patton. After show he'd ask to use there guitars according to Son House he was so bad that people would get mad and tell him to stop. Robert would leave the delta for a year or two and eventually came back. He asked Son House if he could play his guitar Son House told him "You know nobody wants to hear that noise" Robert ended up convincing him and by the end of his performance everybody's jaws dropped he was incredible.
Robert ended up getting to record 29 tracks sadly none of these made him popular at the time. Sadly Johnson's love of alcohol and women caught up to him when he was poisoned by a jealous husband who gave him a bottle of whiskey that was poisoned because Johnson had hit on his wife. Johnson would pass at the age of 27 making him the first member of the 27 club. Columbia records would release his recordings in the 60's making his popularity skyrocket and cause him to cemented in music history forever.
Now you maybe wondering why I'm writing about him on here well as I said in the beginning Robert was not a good guitar player at first until he disappeared and came back its hard to believe that someone could become that good that quick this caused the theory that maybe there was something else at play.
Satan has always been relevant in music. It was said that he was the best musician in heaven before he fell from grace. The first supposed case was that of Giuseppe Tartinia violinists who had a dream that the devil came to him and asked if he'd like to make a deal for his internal soul. Tartini accepted and out of curiosity he handed the devil a violin Satan the began to play the most beautiful piece of music Tartini had heard. When he woke Tartini did his best to recreate this piece and it is now known as The Devil's Trill. Since then their have been many musicians who have supposedly sold their soul for fame and fortune.
Now back to Robert, unlike Tartini Robert had a different theory. Supposedly Robert went to a crossroads got on his knees and handed his guitar to Lucifer he tuned it and gave it back to Robert thus insuring the deal. This theory is supported by his creepy undertones in his songs. He sang about the devil in a lot of his songs like Me And The Devil Blues, Cross Road Blues, and Hell Hounds On My Trail. These eerie lyrics plus the fact of his mysterious life and death at a young age caused the the theory that Robert Sold his soul to be able to master the guitar.
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Two out of three known photos of Robert Johnson
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