The True King of Rock n Roll - Robert Johnson

So why was Bobby J the greatest of them all?

Robert Johnson was an normal lad in the Delta in his early 20s. Married and expecting his first kid.. Sadly neither survived child birth. And thus began the life of the blues, the real pain of real life. You can't sing the blues if u ain't got no pain to fuel it.He had buckets of it...

It is said he was a very average guitarist and was ridiculed by his mentors Son House, a three times murderer, and Chalrey Patton, the first king of the blues. Charley Patton was by most accounts a nasty drunk and tight with his money, however his recorded work is some of the most brilliant blues ever performed. These men literally told Robert Johnson to F*** off with his terrible playing. So he did.

Robert Johnson spent nearly 2 years learning from a man called Ike Zimmerman. He absorbed all the information and practiced endlessly. From this came the Robert Johnson sound we know today.

His lyrics were dark. The man had sold his soul to the Devil at a crossroads after all. ;) The blues was seen as the devil's music and Robert Johnson milked that persona with songs like: Me and the Devil Blues, Crossroads Blues, Preaching Blues and Hell Hounds on my Tale. The latter is regarded as one of the greatest songs ever written.

The crossroads myth dates back to Tommy Johnson 15 years earlier when he proclaimed the devil re-tuned his guitar, played a lick on it and suddenly he could play the blues. (the wonders of open tuning)

But why was Bobby J so far ahead of everyone else? He was creating electric guitar sounds from a cheap Gibson and a bottleneck. He took his peers music so much further. He was 20, 30 years ahead of his time in what he was attempting to do with the guitar. Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones and pretty much every rock musician sights Robert Johnson as one of the greatest influences.

To really understand this we need to compare him to his peers. Namely: Son House, Charley Patton, and other influences like Skip James or Peetie Wheatstraw. Below are a some of their songs:

Son House – Death letter Blues

Charley Patton – Mississipp Boweavil Blues

Skip James – Devil Got My Woman

Peetie Wheatstraw – Gangster's Blues

Robert Johnson took everything one two three steps further, introducing off beats and timing which we associate with rock n roll rather than the blues. There were voodoo drum beats, Gambian sounds, field hollers, railway songs, chain-gang chants echoing throughout. Below are a few Bobby J songs. The change in dynamic between these and the tracks from his peers is clear. Robert Johnson was a once-in-a-lifetime. The bridge to all the music that follwed and the true king of Rock n Roll.

Crossroads Blues

Hellhounds on My Tail – (This is influenced to Skip James)

Daily Motion Link To Bobby J

Preaching Blues (and up jumped the devil) (Patton/House slide influence but totally revolutionised by Bobby J)

Daily Motion link to Preachin Blues 

(Due to the very tiresome GEMA regulations I can't find many of the Robert Johnson tracks... and as a 70 pma Jelly Roller.. what the HELL are GEMA protecting it... these are questions the Jelly Roll Factory wants answer on!)