Robert Johnson's Deal

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The movie 'Crossroads' depicts a fictionalized account (Hey, it's Hollywood!) of Mr. Johnson's alleged deal with the devil - and the search for the so-called 'missing' song.

The word at the time was that Robert was a mediocre player who had gone away for a time and made a deal with the devil - he exchanged his soul for the mega-chops he came back with.

He actually went to Alabama and hung out with a guy called Ike Zinnerman who taught him the alternating bass fingerpicked melody and harmony thing that blew all his former collaborators away. How much was Robert's practising and how much was Ike's lessons is a matter of conjecture.

The electric slide playing in the movie is Ry Cooder and it sure is sweet (duh!). Renting the movie is worth it just to hear Ry.

The Cream song 'Crossroads' is probably the most well-known version of the story that Robert wrote, although many people have recorded it (and many other Johnson tunes).

Check out Robert Palmers (not Simply Irresistible) book (the name of which escapes me at the moment) about the Blues. It's a great history of the who, what, when etc. of that whole period.


foo
 
Robert Johnson recorded in Dallas and Houston ,wire recordings in hotel rooms.Robert had a fetish about other musicians copping his style so he had a habit of turning away from view.In the 2 sessions,Robert faced into the corner of the room,which gives his axe a little bigger sound from the echo.
The song crossroads refers to "goin down to Rosedale" and "still buy a house on Riverside".The intersection of Rosedale and Riverside here in Ft Worth is in the Black section of town and I believe that is the location referred to.
The alternating bass with picked melody style known as Delta or Country blues certainly predated Saint Robert with Huddie Ledbetter (again,here in Tx),Son House and a gang of other players.
My faves of his are Hellhound On My Trail,Dust My Broom and Sweet Home.

Tom
 
Dust My Broom is a killer tune. Listening to Robert Johnson gets me the goosebumps. Without him there might not have been a Beatles.
 
Look Royston,

Dont go blaming those retards on Robert Johnson....Cause Im gonna get up in the mornin and Ill believe Ill dust my broom.......

Any guitar player that hasnt listened to Robert Johnson should be shot...Were all here arguing about which mic is better and Pod cant do this and you gotta have tubes and all that dont mean shit....listen to Robert Johnson......He's the shit....
 
By the way, what kind of guitar did Robert Johnson use? I'm guessing it was a cheap piece of crap that he made sing so well. Also, did anybody ever find out what happened to Robert? Some say he was killed in a fight over a woman and some say the devil came and took him.
 
At the risk of seeming argumentative Tom, I suspect that the Rosedale Robert mentions is much more likely to be Rosedale, Mississippi, a town ' ... on the river's side ...' (Mississippi river, that is) about 100 miles south of Memphis.

This entire Delta region was Robert's stomping ground - Clarksdale, Robinsonville, Memphis - all along Highway 61 probably past Tutwiler.

Did he go elsewhere? Sure - he lists the time it takes to go from Gulfport (MS) to somewhere on the east coast (Norfolk, I think) in one of his songs, but is a crossroads in Fort Worth the likely site for 'the' crossroads? I don't think so.
It's much more likely to be one of those country crossroads where a black man in those times could get himself lynched if he was found alone after dark, hence the lyrics ... sun going down ... etc.

His actual cause of his death is not confirmed, but is believed to be from being poisoned by the husband of a woman he swapped DNA with ;) at a house party some days before he actually died.

If you want to give yourself a treat, go South on 61 from Memphis, and at Clarksdale, head away from the highway on a side road while listening to Robert on your car stereo.

I have been lucky enough to have the time to do this while working in the area a few times (I live in Southern Miss.).

To listen to him while a thunderstorm is brewing and to see the road signs for the places he mentions in his songs (not to mention the Parchman (prison) farm) is very spooky indeed.

As for facing the corner to record - yes he did. Columbia released a record in the late '60's with a cover showing him doing just that. I always thought it was to give his guitar and voice some more mid-range 'ooomph'

Can any of our acoustics gurus confirm this?

Type of guitar? Undoubtable small-bodied, probably mahogany. Maybe a Gibson LG-0 ? Or something similar but less upscale, perhaps?

foo
 
My Dad has that very original album you mention Foo. Is it worth anything to a collector?
 
Rosedale Missippi may well be the likely source of that lyric.It is true however although Tx isn't deep south,Robert did a lot of gigging and his ONLY recordings here.It's probably my local conceit that would like to believe in the Ft Worth connection.I play the Clapton version regularly in my rock band and I think about his connection to our area with a bit of bluesy pride.
My understanding is that are two verified photos of Robert.One was in a self-photo booth and he is smoking a cigarette,hatless.I don't have that one in front of me but I recollect him to be holding a Stella or Harmony or other mid-line American brand.The famous studio photo in Memphis,1935 shows Robert seated in suit and tie and hat with an old Gibson jumbo with binding and dot markers.I'd like to see that other photo referred to about Robert facing the corner.

"C'mon,baby don't you want to go..."


Tom
 
The album cover was a painting of him (artist's reconstruction!) of him as he might have looked during the Texas sessions- sadly not a photo.

... and the days keep getting shorter ...

foo
 
I'm not sure what he used to record, but I know that at certain points he used a Stella, a Gibson, and a Kalamazoo.
 
Yall cats gotta get your stories right...

I've been to those places Johnson stomped... I've been to the crossroads.. 3 of 'em infact just to make sure I had my ass covered... There's two places where Hwy 61 and 49 meet.. One north of Clarksdale and one in Clarksdale. Then there's the REAL Crossroads where Dockery Road crosses Old Hwy 8. He grew up on Dockery Plantation near Cleveland, MS..

I've seen the house Johnson died in at 109 Young Street in Greenwood, MS... In the documentary ''Looking For Robert Johnson'', Honeyboy Edwards is a car, riding through the Baptist Town section of Greenwood, MS. As he points to the right and says ''That's the house where Robert died, the long yellow one.'' There's only one yellow house on Young Street..

I've seen his death certificate somewhere on the web, it lists cause of death as "Lack of a Doctor". It's believed he died of syphilis..

I've seen his guitar, it's hanging in a museum in the Horseshoe Casino in Tunica, MS, it's a Stella.. He also played a Kalamazoo. The Gibson, in the OTHER photo of him known to exist, is an L-1..

Driving down 61 used to be a trip back in time, back to the blues.. You could find those old Juke Joints scattered around if ya looked a little bit. Now it's not much more than the Hwy to get to the Tunica Casinos, with all the glitz and glutz that goes along with any casino town..

There's money down there now. All those old Juke Joints and small grocery stores with old black men playing guitars and checkers under the hot delta sun are disappearing.. They're being replaced with Hot new Blues clubs playing electric music, convience stores and old blue haired ladies playing slotmachines with their damned dinging bells in air conditioned casinos. Money may not make ya happy, but it sure has got rid of the Mississippi Blues..

--
Rob
 
Any guitar player that hasnt listened to Robert Johnson should be shot...

Robert Johnson as far as guitar playing from that era??? Give Blind Blake a listen to and tell me what you think. Now THERE'S a legend...no one knows what happened to him...he disappeared.
 
The alternating bass with picked melody style known as Delta or Country blues certainly predated Saint Robert with Huddie Ledbetter (again,here in Tx),Son House and a gang of other players.


Let's not forget the original...Charlie Patton. Before him, blues was mostly jug bands.

J.P.
 
foo said:
The movie 'Crossroads'
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that's a Britney Spears flick.

:D

As for the Robert Johnson film, I'll check it out.
 
Tom Hicks said:
Rosedale Missippi may well be the likely source of that lyric.It is true however although Tx isn't deep south,Robert did a lot of gigging and his ONLY recordings here.It's probably my local conceit that would like to believe in the Ft Worth connection.I play the Clapton version regularly in my rock band and I think about his connection to our area with a bit of bluesy pride.
My understanding is that are two verified photos of Robert.One was in a self-photo booth and he is smoking a cigarette,hatless.I don't have that one in front of me but I recollect him to be holding a Stella or Harmony or other mid-line American brand.The famous studio photo in Memphis,1935 shows Robert seated in suit and tie and hat with an old Gibson jumbo with binding and dot markers.I'd like to see that other photo referred to about Robert facing the corner.

"C'mon,baby don't you want to go..."


Tom
Click to expand...
Actually he recorded kind hearted woman in Miss. first.The only other places
he recorded were San Antonio And Dallas.
BTW,the original version of crossroads makes no mention of Rosedale or
riverside.Clapton took some liberties when he recorded it with cream.Left some lyrics out and added this:
Going down to Rosedale,take my rider by my side
Going down to Rosedale,take my rider by my side
We can still barrellhouse baby on the riverside
 
The majority of his songs were recorded in the Gunter Hotel, here in sunny San Antonio, TX. That includes CROSSROADS BLUES.
 
btw robert johnson also is in another film :'oh brother where are thou' by the coen brothers. even though it's funny as hell, i don't like the way he is being portrayed there.
 
Watch the Oh Brother Flick again... That's TOMMY Johnson...

--
Rob
 
And before ya go saying, they just changed his name around to keep the legal folks at ease...

"Nope. Tommy Johnson (1896-1956) was a chilling blues singer in his own right, older than (and no known relation to) Robert (1911-1938). The story of the musician who sells his soul to the devil for musical skill goes back several centuries, and circulated around Tommy long before Robert came along. Had he not done himself in with alcohol, Tommy, a strained-Sterno drunk, would have recorded more and likely be far better known today. If you are at all into blues music, check out some of Tommy's 17 recordings. They will raise the hairs on your neck." -- Stolen from http://www.mutantreviewers.com/robrother.html

Ya can Google Tommy Johnson and get a ton of info..
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q="tommy+Johnson",+Blues&btnG=Google+Search

--
Rob
 
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