Robert Johnson (1911–1938)

Robert Johnson is one of the most important figures in the history of blues music (see entry under 1920s—Music in volume 2). He played guitar, sang, and wrote songs in the Mississippi Delta blues tradition, which featured singers accompanying themselves on acoustic guitar.

Growing up in Mississippi as the son of poor sharecroppers, Johnson learned early on about the hardships of life, which he later expressed in his music. He was known as a great guitar player, so good, in fact, that a legend began that Johnson received his guitar skills by selling his soul to the devil. Although he only recorded forty-one songs in his short life, including "Crossroads Blues," "Love in Vain," "Terraplane Blues," and "Traveling Riverside Blues," Johnson was a tremendous influence on later blues and rock and roll (see entry under 1950s—Music in volume 3) musicians, many of whom recorded his songs. Johnson's musical influence was enhanced by both the mysterious nature of his life and by the suspicious nature of his death—from poisonous whiskey—in 1938. Because of this, and his enormous talent, his music has remained an essential part of blues history.

—Timothy Berg

For More Information

Cohn, Lawrence, ed. Nothing But the Blues. New York: Abbeville Press, 1993.

Delta Haze Corporation. Robert Johnson.http://www.deltahaze.com/johnson/index.html (accessed February 11, 2002).

Guralnick, Peter. Searching for Robert Johnson. New York: Dutton, 1989. Robert Johnson Biography.http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MUSIC/blues/rjbio.html (accessed February 11, 2002).