Robert Johnson and the Importance of Myth in the Propegation of the Blues

            Robert Johnson is arguably the most influential of the early blues singers, although in many ways his music is hardly revolutionary or groundbreaking, and the recordings he made are relatively few considering the idolized status that he attained. [1]   Very little is known about Johnson ’s life, except that he spent most of it traveling and playing throughout the Delta and beyond, in Arkansas, Memphis, St. Louis, and other Southern cities and towns, rarely staying in one place for long. The extant accounts are often vague, contradictory, and unreliable. [2]

             The dearth of factual information has allowed for the development of fascinating myths regarding Johnson ’s life and music; the quintessential myth holds that he sold his soul to the devil at a crossroads in exchange for his prodigal musical abilities. [3]   If indeed such myths are dubious foundations for an objective history of Johnson’s life, their objective truth is somewhat beside the point as it was precisely this vague, ambiguous aura surrounding Johnson’s history that attracted many subsequent musicians to his music (and by extension to the early blues).

             Blues historian Elijah Wald argues that Johnson was not a particularly influential figure within the Delta tradition, and he may well have remained one of the many obscure, unknown bluesmen if not for the white (mostly British) musicians who were fascinated by his legend and idolized him and his music. [4]    These artists achieved worldwide popularity, and by channeling Johnson's music and revering his legacy, they catapulted him to the forefront of the blues revival where he, more than any other early blues musician, came to personify the deep blues tradition. Songs like Eric Clapton's (with Cream) cover of Johnson’s Cross Road Blues, and the Rolling Stones’ cover of Love in Vain cultivated a vast audience that had theretofore had little interest in the Johnson or the early blues. [5]

     Bibliography

      [1]  Wald, Escaping the Delta, 127.       [2]   Peter Guralnick, Searching for Robert Johnson (New York: Penguin, 1998). <p class="MsoNormal">      <span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US; mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[3]   Ibid. <p class="MsoFootnoteText" style="margin-left:.5in;text-indent:-.5in">      <span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[4]  Wald, Escaping the Delta, 188. <p class="MsoFootnoteText">      <span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Arial Unicode MS";mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language: EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">[5]  Ibid., 245.