In 1936 and 1937, the Mississippi bluesman Robert Johnson recorded 29 sides, along with about a dozen alternate takes, during two recording sessions in San Antonio and Dallas, Texas. Only eleven of those recordings were released during his lifetime, but the impact of Johnson's recordings on American popular music has been immense. By the time record producer John Hammond attempted to bring Johnson to New York for his 1938 "From Spirituals to Swing" concert, it was already too late: Johnson had died a few months earlier from causes that have never been definitively determined. Robert Johnson was only 27 years old at the time of his death.
It was the music of Robert Johnson that, in large part, inspired the career of Muddy Waters, who later gave birth to the Chicago style of electric blues. This amplified version of the blues, combined with country and gospel music, was a cornerstone of the musical hybrid called rock 'n' roll. It is not without reason, then, that Robert Johnson has sometimes been referred to as the grandfather of rock 'n' roll.
In 1961, Columbia Records released sixteen of Robert Johnson's recordings on an album entitled "Robert Johnson: King of the Delta Blues Singers." It was this album that introduced the delta blues to a new generation of mostly white folk musicians. Before long, audiences around the world were exposed to Johnson's music for the first time through the recordings of such English admirers as the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton as well as the performances of countless young blues artists, including John Hammond's eponymous son. In 1990, a complete set of Johnson's recordings were issued on audio cassettes and CDs. Within six months, over 400,000 copies were sold-an unprecedented achievement for a recording of acoustic blues by a performer who had been dead for over 50 years.
Despite the indisputable brilliance of Johnson's recorded work, however, it would be a mistake to think that he single-handedly created the music that his superb performances helped to popularize. Many of Johnson's songs can be directely traced to the music of other bluesmen that he heard on records or in person as he traveled around the country in the 1930s.
Charlie Patton (1891-1934) was among the first and most influential of the bluesmen whose recordings influenced all those who followed. To find out where Johnson's "Crossroad Blues" came from, for example, just listen to Patton's "Down the Dirt Road Blues." Blues fans may know that Elmore James's famous "Dust My Broom" bottleneck lick was borrowed directly from Robert Johnson, but few realize that much of Johnson's playing derives in turn from the earlier innovations of such bottleneck pioneers as Charlie Patton and Hambone Willie Newbern.
Son House (1902-1988) was part of Charlie Patton's musical entourage, but he held the older bluesman in low esteem both as a person and a musician. House, who began recording in 1930, was not a flashy showman like Patton, but his intensely passionate vocal style and stinging bottleneck guitar were clearly the model upon which both Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters were to base their own distinctive styles. If you've ever heard House's "Preachin' the Blues," you know exactly where Johnson got the idea for his own "Preachin' Blues."
Skip James (1902-1969) was not a commercial success when he recorded 18 songs for Parmount in 1931, but his keening falsetto and intense guitar playing clearly influenced the young Robert Johnson. Compare, for example, Johnson's "32-30 Blues" to James's "22-20 Blues" and Johnson's "Hell Hound on My Trail" to James's "Devil Got My Woman."
Lonnie Johnson (1894-1970) started his musical career as a violinist, but went on to become one of the most skilled and influential guitarists in blues history. Although Robert Johnson never achieved the guitaristic virtuosity displayed by this unrelated master of the blues, both "Malted Milk" and "Drunken Hearted Man" clearly pay homage to Lonnie Johnson's vocal and rhythmic style.
The list of Robert Johnson's influences goes on to include such outstanding bluesmen as Tommy Johnson, Kokomo Arnold, and Big Bill Broonzy, who ultimately served as Johnson's replacement at John Hammond's 1938 concert. None of this is not meant to detract in any way from Johnson's brilliant and unique contribution to blues history: Robert Johnson's intense guitar playing, powerful singing, and distinctive lyric imagery establish him as an important bridging figure between the rural bluesmen who preceded him and the younger urban blues artists who followed. We don't need to subscribe to the oft-told legend of Johnson's standing at the crossroads and selling his soul to the devil in order to appreciate the splendor of his music. All we have to do is listen.
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