Johnson, Robert (redirected from Robert Johnson)

Johnson, Robert, 1911–38, African-American blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter, b. Hazelhurst, Miss. A sharecropper's son, he grew up absorbing the music of Delta bluesmen, learning the harmonica and then mastering the guitar. Johnson left home around 1930 and for the rest of his life traveled the country, playing and singing at parties, juke joints, barrelhouses, and other venues. His reedy voice and virtuoso guitar technique combined in a classic blues sound, plaintive and lonely. The vagaries of love and evil are the themes of many of the songs he sang, whether written by others or himself, e.g., "Terraplane Blues" and "Hellhound on My Trail." In San Antonio (1936) and Dallas (1937) he recorded 29 blues songs, but a year later he was poisoned by a jealous husband. Though all that remains of his legendary work are those Texas recordings, Johnson's influence has been profound, on later blues players and on rock and rollers, some of whom, e.g., the Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton, have recorded his songs.

Bibliography

See his lyrics ed. by B. Groom and B. Yates (1969); biographies by P. Guralnick (1989) and S. Calt (2001); P. R. Schroeder, Robert Johnson, Mythmaking, and Contemporary American Culture (2004), and E. Wald, Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues (2004).

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Johnson, Robert

(born c. 1911, Hazlehurst, Miss., U.S.—died Aug. 16, 1938, near Greenwood, Miss.) U.S. blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Born to a sharecropping family, he learned harmonica and guitar, probably influenced by personal contact with Delta bluesmen such as Eddie “Son” House and Charley Patton. He traveled widely throughout the South and as far north as Chicago and New York City, playing at house parties, juke joints, and lumber camps. In 1936–37 he recorded songs by House and others, as well as originals such as “Me and the Devil Blues,” “Hellhound on My Trail,” and “Love in Vain.” He is said to have died, at age 27, after drinking strychnine-laced whiskey (possibly the work of a jealous husband) in a juke joint. His eerie falsetto and masterly slide guitar influenced many later blues and rock musicians.

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Johnson, Robert (1911–38) musician; born in Hazelhurst, Miss. A singer-guitarist, he was the most celebrated and legendary of the Mississippi Delta bluesmen. An itinerant performer, he played on street corners and in juke joints throughout the Deep South before he was poisoned to death at the age of 27. In 1936–37, he recorded 29 songs in Dallas and San Antonio, most of which are staples of the blues and rock repertoires. Johnson's musical brilliance and tormented sensibility were ascribed to his Faustian bargain with the devil, a myth that remains at the heart of the blues. In 1990, a retrospective collection of Johnson's recordings became a million-selling album. The movie Crossroads is one of numerous attempts at elucidating his obscure life.