Chapter 5: The Blues
Robert Johnson (1911-1938) is often regarded as one of the most virtuosic and influential performers of the rural blues style despite recording only 29 songs during his brief lifetime (41 takes total survive). Born in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, Johnson began playing harmonica and jaw harp before acquiring a guitar around 1927. In the early 1930s, he met Delta blues guitarist Son House, who initially criticized Johnson’s playing. After several months away, Johnson returned with an astonishing mastery of the guitar and a new body of original songs. His rapid development gave rise to the enduring legend that he had sold his soul to the devil in exchange for his musical talents. According to popular folklore, Johnson made this deal at a rural crossroads often said to be the intersection of Highways 49 and 61 in Clarksdale, Mississippi where he was allegedly visited by a mysterious figure who tuned his guitar and imbued him with supernatural skill. This myth though unverifiable became a powerful part of Johnson’s legacy and contributed to his mystique as a bluesman whose talent seemed almost otherworldly.
Johnson’s recordings from 1936 and 1937 display his technical skill and poetic lyricism. His guitar playing featured a shuffle rhythm, a pattern in which the beat is divided into uneven pairs, typically a long note followed by a short one, creating a swinging, loping feel that became a hallmark of blues and later influenced jazz, swing, and rock and roll. He also employed wailing bottleneck slide techniques and striking call and response interplay between his voice and guitar. His lyrics explored themes of longing, isolation, and supernatural fear, all rendered in vivid and poetic language.
His deeply troubled and short life contributed to the mythos of the “blues lifestyle,” marked by hardship, alcohol, and wandering. Johnson died at the age of 27, allegedly poisoned by the jealous husband of a woman with whom he had flirted after playing a show near Greenwood, Mississippi. His legacy, however, has only grown. He was a profound influence on the British blues revival of the 1960s, inspiring guitarists like Eric Clapton and Keith Richards. “Sweet Home Chicago” remains one of Johnson’s most iconic songs and a quintessential example of the rural blues. Its 12-bar structure, use of blue notes, and call and response phrasing between voice and guitar encapsulate many of the core elements of the Delta blues tradition.