Robert Johnson Guitar player. Died August 16th 1938
The tale of Robert Johnson is a fascinating one. A forerunner of the Blues movement in the 1930’s, his music was to influence everyone from Muddy Waters to Led Zeppelin. Perhaps his alleged deal with the devil at the crossroads helped more. The story goes that one day, as Johnson was traveling, he came across a set of crossroads where the Devil appeared to him. A deal was struck whereby Johnson sold his soul and in return would be given the talent of playing the guitar masterfully. The story did form the basis of a song called ‘Crossroads’; a Johnson song later revived by Eric Clapton.
The story of Johnson’s demise is straight out of a movie script. In a bar one night he was offered an open bottle of whisky to drink out of. His friend knocked it out his hand, seeing instantly what the danger may have been. Johnson was not happy, saying ‘don’t ever knock a bottle out my hand’. Later on that night someone else offered him an open bottle and forgetting his friends earlier advice, Johnson drank from it. It had been laced with strychnine. Interestingly though, in later years, this happening was dismissed because strychnine has such a pungent smell that it would not have been disguised by the liquor, in fact it was such a strong and distinctive smell that it would have been instantly noticed before being drunk.
What ever happened, the world had lost arguably one of its major musicians at the age of 27; had he not died, the music we know today could have been so different.
Tags: crossroads, Guitar players, Play The Guitar, robert johnson