Born in the deep south during a time when racist secularism was at its height, Robert Johnson used music of rhythm and blues to express the repression felt by the black population living in America.
On the Mississippi Delta therein lies the small town of Hazlehurst where Charles Dodds hurt the son of a rich white family, the Marchettis, and needed to find exile to avoid lynching. He found refuge inTennessee. During this time, Julia Dodds-his wife and mother of ten children, meets a farmer passing by…
Julia Dodds is also kicked out by the Marchetti. She leaves with her children to find her husband in Memphis. However, once she arrives it becomes apparent that she needs to deal with his new mistress and their two children. Charles Dodds changed his life and with it his name, to Spencer. Robert therefore took the name of his step father- who was not in favour of it. While there has been nothing mentioned concerning tensions between the two women, Julia chooses to leave the home, therefore leaving her son at the same time, for Robinsville, to the small town of Commerce-60km south of Memphis.
Julia meets and marries Willie "Dusty" Willis in October. At the same time, Robert is driven from the Spencer family once and for all. He joins his mother and new step-father.
He spent his childhood in this cotton community and was schooled at "Indian Creek School" in the town of Commerce. Robert did not enjoy school but rather preferred to work on his budding passion: music. He tried to play the Jew's harp. It seems that he had no problem leaving college as soon as the opportunity arose. The harmonica became his instrument of choice and brought it with him to the Abbay and Leatherman plantation where his step-father worked. Dusty worked him to the bone, which was the reason why the young boy lost his patience and ran away from home. He tries to earn his way on street corners, waiting to be discovered as the next great bluesman. It's during this period that he learns the true identity of his father: Noah Johnson. The teenager then chooses to be known as Robert Leroy Johnson.
At 16 years old he gets his first guitar and makes a mouth support for his harmonica so that he can play both instruments simultaneously. Whilst playing the music for Leroy Carr's "How Long-How Long Blues" he cut his teeth, voice and touch…He met Willie Brown, a musician, who already had a reputation in Robinsville. Brown would introduce him to a Delta Blues legend of the time: Charley Patton. The two seniors will become his first port of call and inspiration.
Along with the beat of this music, the young man fell in love with Virginia Travis. They married in February and went to live with Robert's half sister Carrie and her husband Granville, in a house located in the heart of the Kline plantation to the east of Robinsonville. The young guitarist puts his focus on music on hold to concentrate on his role as a loving and caring husband. There is one role he takes more seriously than his love for Virginia, he demands "land rights" as a field labourer.
The couple's life together would be cut short. Virginia became pregnant in the summer but died giving birth. She was only 16 years old. Robert never really got over it. He left the child with a family member so he could return when he was ready. However this wound made him feel as if he was cursed or "jinxed".
Learning alongside Son House and Charley Patton proved difficult. The bluesmen mocked him when he took to the guitar between sets and the public weren't interested in the young amateur. Son House sarcastically advised him to only concentrate on the harmonica. Offended, Robert Johnson chose to leave Robinsonville to return to his home town near Hazlehurst where he hoped to find his real father.
It was the bluesman Ike Zimmerman who took him under his wing and became his mentor instead. Much like the birthplace of Mississippi, Hazlehurst was rather unaffected by the Great Depression in 1929. Construction workers for the Work Progress Administration fell out of various taverns behind roads under construction which cross through the surrounding forests. The nights are lively despite Prohibition and Zimmerman became a star, claiming he learnt to play blues in a cemetery. Robert has no open slots for him and stays awake late at night to work on his game.
During this festive atmosphere, he met Calleta "Callie" Craft whom he married. At ten years his senior, and a mother of two children, he kept this union a secret, without doubt to not tarnish his reputation as a seducer. Since Virginia's death and during concerts with Son House and Zimmerman, Robert made the most of his status as a bluesman and celebrity, especially around women. He was a handsome man, who continued to flit between conquests of all types regardless of age or status. Life with Callie- who idolized him and sometimes joined him on his wild nights, took a totally different direction compared to his past on the Kline plantation. Music took a prominent place and was the sole mark of Johnson.
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When he was not on stage, Robert could be found in the surrounding forest constantly playing and replaying songs slowly from his notebook. Amongst the "every night is a Saturday night" crowd, a man who called himself RL (in homage to Lonnie Johnson) had a reputation as a bluesman. The talented tap-dancers, the lively pace which he incorporates into his songs by strumming the base strings and frantically tapping his feet as well as his high-pitched voice, made him a very typical musician. The time came to leave Hazlehurst and to bring his songs to new horizons. He takes his new family along the Delta roads but Callie does not come. They end their relationship in Clarksdale.
He returns to Robinsville where he has a "score to settle" with Son House. When he begins to play for the composer of "Death Letter", House cannot believe his ears. The young man had completely transformed. He played with extraordinary technical ease and style never seen or heard before. Initially he thought two guitarists were playing at the same time, as did many other bluesmen. Many asked Robert how he could develop and play at such a speed, it was clear the prodigy had grown into a legend. He played "The Pact With the Devil" at the crossroads around Clarksdale. During this period voodoo was firmly rooted in the soul of blues and lifestyle of Delta's black community, where Robert Johnson was blessed with incredible talent.
He remained in Robinsville for a few months, perfecting his talent and charisma with the help of Willie Brown and Son House. He had hoped to find his mother and half sister but just like old times, things didn't go well with his step father. In many ways, the city remained a community of farmers, which bored him and didn't acknowledge him. The field worker had been replaced by a musician. For any self-respecting bluesman, traveling was the only release. He left again to play along the Delta- street corners, juke-joint stages or dances…His life had become that of a nomad's, sprinkled with women and music, with no sign of stopping.
The borders of Arkansas are often referred to in the region's music. In this region, it takes a lot of time to get to Helena, which finally became its home port. It was here the true greats were produced, such as Elmore James, Peter "Memphis" Slim, Calvin Frazier, Howlin' Wolf, Johnny Shines and Sonny Boy Williamson II among others…Alongside them, Robert continued to create his style and himself as an important blues figure. More and more often he slept at one of his mistresses and admirer's house, Estella Coleman. She was accommodating despite the immoral life of a musician and helped him the best she could. Her son, Robert Lockwood Jr. adored the lyrics and melodies of his step father who would often come and go. He immersed himself in the style of "Robert Johnson" and renamed himself Robert Jr. in honor of his spiritual father.
Throughout the Delta of Arkansas and Mississippi, the concerts were connected to each other; Rosedal, Lula, Midnight, Inverness, Greenville, Moorhead, Yazoo City, Jonestown…as well as many others were Johnson's mere presence was as mysterious and haunting as the musical crossroads. He not only did this but also shared the stage most evenings. Robert had to adapt and learn to play almost every kind of style: polkas, country, ragtimes, waltzes, ballads, hillbilly songs…and did so with an ease that amazed many. His talent never stops evolving. Many were astonished by his ease of transcribing note for note, merely two days after hearing a song on the radio, he was already retelling the story.
Johnson was now well known throughout every region of the Delta and Tennessee. For several months he had hoped to record (like his peers Son House and Charley Patton) the songs he wrote on the road and ones that had already been well received. He wanted to join the ranks of those he heard on the gramophone: Lonnie Jonson, Kokomo Arnold, Leroy Carr, Skipp James…He got in contact with H.C Speir who ran a makeshift studio in Jackson. This man had a flair of finding rare gems. Discovering Johnson caused sensations within the black community and his choices were taken seriously by Paramount. Yet with the American Record Company it was a different case. Finally Ernie Oertle, ARC's talent scout, brings Johnson to San Antonio to record.
While in San Antonio Texas, Robert Johnson works in a reconverted studio in a room of the Gunter Hotel. The recording process took three days. The first song Johnson chose to record was "Kind Hearted Woman Blues"which was directly inspired by one of his teachers, the pianist Leroy Carr. He creates a variation of his voice so that it appears as if two different people are singing. The follow up was "Sweet Home Alabama" -a remake of "Sweet Home Kokomo" by Kokomo Arnold. Johnson was picking open chords which provided a rhythmic bass at the same time. Various personal songs followed, which ensured him success on the radio and launched his career i.e. "Terraplane Blues". Shortly after, he went back to visit his father, Noah Johnson, to give him one of the 4,000 copies sold on 78s.
On leaving Helena, Johnny Shines, Calvin Frazier and Robert Johnson-in a three-piece suit, took Route 51 leading to Chicago. They took a freight train, a bus and any means possible to reach the idolized city of blues singers. He crossed Saint Louis where they met a growing amount of local musicians. They reached Illinois and the city, before stopping in Detroit where Frazier settled. Shines and Johnson carried on towards the east coast, playing in New York where Johnson starts a trio and on to New Jersey. Whilst here, the bluesman moved away from the music he so loved. As a showman he played all styles of songs requested by the public.
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Whilst in Dallas, Texas he had a second recording session. It was during this particular session that Robert Johnson would immortalize his incomparable talent, but he also breathed new life into the blues in general. Constantly inspired by his elders, his songs were not structured to be interchangeable in terms of texts but to express a personal drama which relied on very precise metaphors. This musical technique appears to wait before adding guitar amplification. These songs, repeated many times, founded the bases of rock'n'roll.
The musician accepted a contract in a Greenwood juke-joint called "The Three Forks". He left Helena once again and made a detour to Robinsville to see his family.
At Greenwood he shared the stage with Honeyboy Edwards. True to form, he became involved with a married fan. She often spent the day with him, while her husband was under the pretext that she was visiting her sister. However her husband happened to be the owner of "The Three Forks". He eventually discovered the truth and quietly planned his revenge.
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One night between sets Robert Johnson took a couple of gulps from an already opened bottle of whiskey, ignoring the warnings of Sonny Boy Williamson who was on stage that night. Several seconds later the musician could nolonger play, sing or stand up…he had been poisoned with strychnine…
