King of the Delta Blues

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RobertjohnsonThe  Robert Johnson - Night at  The Crossroads shows are fast approaching and it got me thinking more about the blues and what it must have been like to be a musician the the post war world 1 years. The depression had hit and music was the one luxury that people could not do without. To be a musician on the road and trying to make it as recording artist is hard, but it is interesting how the trials and tribulations of a musician have not changed all that much.

Musicians still have to play covers to survive and still have to write music to the 3 -4 minute formula to get played on the radio and keep record companies happy. This is what Robert Johnson had to do, and he did it well. He played to whatever audience he could, and often played hits of the day instead of his own music. 

 

Like it or not Robert Johnson's contribution to modern music is undeniably large. He has influenced almost every musician in modern music directly and indirectly. The myth that Robert made a deal at the crossroads was never denied or admitted but his mysterious death at the age of 27 was the start of club that took some of the biggest names in music .Robert Johnson has been been honoured with titles such as

- Grandfather of Rock'n'Roll, 
- Highest selling blues artist of all time, 
- Rolling Stone and Gibson guitars vote him as one of the greatest guitarists of all time
- Rock'n'Roll inductee to the hall of fame
- King of the Delta Blues. 
 
 
Johnson was a troubadour, and when he travelled to a new town he would play for tips on street corners or in front of the local barbershop or a restaurant.  Johnson often did not focus on his dark and complex original compositions, but instead pleased audiences by performing more well-known pop standards of the day. With an ability to pick up tunes at first hearing, Johnson had no trouble giving his audiences what they wanted, and certain of his contemporaries later remarked on Johnson's interest in jazz and country. Johnson also had an uncanny ability to establish a rapport with his audience; in every town in which he stopped.

Robert Johnson's knew that his dark and intelligent original compositions had to be recorded, so Robert was put in touch with Ernie Oertle, who offered to record the young musician in San Antonio, Texas. This famous recording session was held November 23, 1936 in room 414 at the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio. They set up a temporary studio  and Johnson reportedly performed facing the wall. This has been cited as evidence he was a shy man and reserved performer or that he did not want any one to know how he produced his sound. This couldn't be further from the truth. Ry Cooder says "Look at Robert Johnson’s picture and listen to his singing and his forceful personality. This is a guy who was afraid of the audience?! Hell, no! This is chew-them-up-and-spit-them-out kind of a guy. I think he was sitting in the corner to achieve a certain sound that he liked. In other words, if you’d have said, “Robert, I’m gonna boost the midrange, take off . . .” – because it’s a dry sound, the acoustic guitar, finally. It’s a boring sound for Robert. He wants to hear wang! He wants to hear the electric. He wants to hear that boosted midrange. And I’ll bet you that if you could have done that for him with equalizing and headphones in the modern era, he’d have been very glad. I’ll bet you if you’d have given him a Marshall amp to play it through, he’d have been extremely glad!" Sitting in the corner is a technique called "corner loading". In the ensuing three-day session, Johnson played sixteen selections, and recorded alternate takes for most of these.

Among the songs Johnson recorded in San Antonio were "Come On In My Kitchen", "Kind Hearted Woman Blues", "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" and "Cross Road Blues". The first songs to appear were "Terraplane Blues" and "Last Fair Deal Gone Down", probably the only recordings of his that he would live to hear. "Terraplane Blues" became a moderate regional hit, selling 5,000 copies.

The record company was happy with the sales from Johnson's first sessions so asked him back. In 1937, Johnson traveled to Dallas, Texas, for another recording session in a makeshift studio at the Brunswick Record Building, 508 Park Avenue.  Eleven records from this session would be released within the following year. Robert's performances on these sessions were more precise and his songwriting more prepared. On the first recording sessions it can be noticed that songs were ended abrubtly and alternate takes where quite different. This was probably due to the fact that the engineer producer was making Robert aware that his songs we going over time. Commercial songs of the day fit neatly into the 3 minute format so Robert was forced to rethink his arrangements on the spot. The 1937 sessions that Robert recorded were less adventerous, yet more delivered and assured with alternate takes being more or less identical. 

Robert Johnson's songs where stories which set them apart from other rural blues with repetitive verse and chorus. Robert also told of his relationship with the devil. Songs like 'Me and the Devil blues', 'Hellhound on my Trail'  expanded on the myth that Robert made a deal with the devil. This myth was something that Robert was drawn to, and being such a young and good looking man it could be said that he was set apart from most other bluesmen of the day. To be 27 and to sing and write with such maturity Robert had to have got his talent from somewhere so why not have folks talk about the crossroads deal? Robert wasn't going to shy away from the mythical tale as some of the greatest composers of the world like Paganini have reportedly had help from the Devil. Lets think about this, here is a young man of only 25 who was able to write and sing songs with such maturity. Musicians like Robert only come along once in a while, Musicians like Bach, Mozart, or even Jeff Buckley that change the shape and direction of music, however small or big. This was the first time that a blues musician with such enormous talent came along. With no guidance or anyone to watch over him, Robert was on a path to destruction. He drank too much and also chose to mess with too many women who belonged to other men. This was to be his undoing. Who knows what Robert would have gone on to play musically. Robert's travel companion and fellow guitar player Johnny Shines said that Robert was looking to get a band together. He was looking to stretch his musical abilities away from rural delta blues to play something different like Swing Jazz which could have easily ended up with an early arrival of Rock'n'Roll which could have landed us in a completely different musical position to where we are now. I guess we'll never know. 
 
Why is Eric Clapton obsessed with Johnson? Why does Keith Richards think that there is 2 guitar players when you hear Robert Johnson recordings. Robert's music is spellbinding and its mysterious overtones rise to the surface and seep into your subconscious. Clapton mentions that when he first heard Johnson it was too much to process and was hard to fully comprehend. I would agree with Claptons statements as when I first heard Johnson I did not understand the depth of the music and Robert's talent, so I put it on the shelf for a few years. As I grow older I can now listen and attempt to understand the maturity of Robert's music. Clapton's mentions that "Robert Johnson is a lifetimes work for any musician" he also says that "Johnson's songs are best played with 2 guitars". I think the reason for this is that Robert was able to play different things melodically and rhythmically between his voice and guitar which created a fuller sound and give the illusion that there was 2 guitar players. He was able to separate his brain into 2 parts - Voice and Guitar. Most singer guitar players will consolidate the rhythm and melody of the voice with the guitar parts. In several of Robert songs like Cross Roads, Stones in my Passway and even Hellhound on my Trail, Johnson is able to play one thing on the guitar and sing something totally unrelated. 

The esoteric cloud that shroud Robert's music and even the blues in general is something that white musicians and Rock'nRoll has been chasing since the 60's. The intrinsic feeling that is buried deep within Johnson's music is a feeling of despair and sadness but it is also uplifting to the soul at the same time.  Studies have been performed to explain this phenomona and they have revealed that the microtonal singing is main contributing factor. Sound samples were taken by pychology professors in 1924 and the where able to actually look at the sound wave of cottonfield hollers, work and spiritual songs. What they found was that the swooping dips  and sudden climbs, attack and release of the notes broke the rules of the even tempered scale that the white folk were listening to. The notes that we listen in the early blues were in between the notes of classical music and were much more expressive with their bends, rises and falls. This is the sound that captures our soul. This is the blues, this is the blueprint of rock'n'roll. 

Dont miss this show! Who knows when it will happen again!!!