Famous Guitarist-Robert Johnson

Born on May 8, 1911 in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, Robert Johnson’s life is rife with myths and allegory. Throughout his schooling time, one of his childhood friends recalls that Robert was famous for playing the harmonica and the jaw harp in those early days. One Blues musician called Son House mentions that young Robert Johnson, who tried in vain to copy his style, disappeared from the area for a couple of months and returned with a masterful guitar skill. That was where the stories of Robert Johnson came into place. There were many stories mentioned that Johnson’s unexpected and entire transformation from no talent to super talent were because of him exchanging the talent by selling his soul to the devil.

Early in his adult life, he travelled from town to town, played whatever audience requested and earned decent earnings at his craft. Having the idea of furthering his career, Johnson met up with H.C. Speir, who was the talent scout. Speir had seen eye to eye to record Johnson and this resulted in one of the several prominent songs- “Cross Road Blues.”

Johnson eventually died at the young age of 27. Since then, every artist has unwittingly influenced by him. He had expressed pure emotion with no bars held and worked on reducing the gap of social barriers. Besides helping the civil movements of the sixties, his music was to add interest by white musicians.