May 8, 2011 is the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of legendary blues guitarist Robert Johnson. Below are some internet resources and book suggestions which will give you a better feel for the man and his music.
Even though Johnson actually lived, and has only been dead for 73 years, the few known facts of his life have long since been overwhelmed by mythology. The Robert Johnson we think we know, the one that “speaks to us,” is as much the product of our desires as it is of history.
Here are three books that I recommend on Johnson:
Robert Johnson: Lost and Found
by Barry Lee Pearson and Bill McCulloch
Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues
by Elijah Wald
Robert Johnson, Mythmaking, and Contemporary American Culture
by Patricia R. Schroeder
[Editor’s Note – All of these books, and any others, on any topic, may be ordered through John at Globe Books in Pioneer Square in Seattle. Please support your local booksellers wherever possible.]
Here’s an interview with Robert Johnson’s grandson on the Gibson Guitars website:
http://www.gibson.com/en-us/Lifestyle/Features/johnson-birthday-0506-2011/
Here’s Johnson’s classic song, Hellhound On My Trail:
And here’s some video rediscovered in 2009 which was alleged to be footage of Johnson performing in Mississippi. This video gives us a fascinating and valuable glimpse of a vanished world, even though the performer in question isn’t Johnson. The guitarist on film is eerily similar in build, face, and hands. And we want it so much to be him, don’t we?
Here’s a biographical documentary about Johnson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON2bZQtkt_o
This is Sweet Home Chicago, another of Johnson’s classic tunes:
And here’s Crossroad, the tune which, along with Hellhound on My Trail, gave rise to the Faustian legend which has grown up around Johnson:
