Folklore: Robert Johnson and the Crossroads
There are other ways to learn a guitar beyond books and lessons, but they have a price beyond money. A price that can be paid only with the common coin shared by all men, whether they be beggars or kings, their immortal soul. A price that was said to be paid by the legendary Blues musician Robert Johnson around about 1930.
According to the legend, as told by Son House another early Blues guitarist, Johnson used to follow him around, attempting to imitate his playing style with little success before disappearing for a few months. Upon his return he was a master musician. When House asked him how he gained his skills he replied that he had sold his soul to the devil.
Over the years more details were revealed and now we have the legend in it’s current form, Johnson is said to have travelled to a crossroads with his guitar around about midnight. While he was sitting there attempting to practice a large black man appeared before him and offered to tune his guitar. Johnson accepted the offer and the man proceeded to tune it and then played with incredible skill before returning it to Johnson and vanishing into the night. When Johnson started to play on that guitar afterwards he found his skill to have increased beyond measure and he went on to carve out his own legend as a blues musician.
Of course while there is little real evidence for this story there is one interesting fact, Robert Johnson died aged 27 in 1938 leaving behind only 29 recorded songs with 12 alternate takes. The site of his death? A country crossroads near Greenwood Mississippi.
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on July 11, 2009 at 8:24 am
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Oh, now THIS I had never heard of. I think I had read his name someplace, but never anything about the guy.
It’s such a shame that he died so young =\.
Pretty cool
!
There’s a story about Beethoven’s last night on Earth.
The band Trans-Siberian Orchestra released a CD called Beethoven’s Last Night, and it’s great. Definitely worth listening.