by Nick Nash

Created on: November 03, 2009

The subject of selling one's soul to the Devil has prevailed in American culture since the mid nineteenth century but is no more well known than in the case of blues man Robert Johnson. There is little information as to his life and only 2 photographs exist of him. As a young man, it has been told, he went to the crossroads and sold his soul to the devil in exchange for mastery of the guitar. Johnson died at 27 from an apparent poisoning from a bottle of whiskey. Rumour has circulated as to the identity and motivation of the alleged killer: jilted lover, scorned husband victim of Johnson's philandering, or the devil coming to collect.

Johnson has influenced numerous musicians from Eric Clapton through to Jimi Hendrix and in 1990 there was released a long over-due collection of all of Johnson's recordings to great critical acclaim. The collection was a 2 disc set containing 41 tracks and includes alternate takes of many of Jonhson's most famous songs.

This collection archives the recorded legacy of Johnson. On these recordings the first thing that is noticeable is the incredible quality of the recordings given their age. There is great clarity here but it is never too clean. Johnson still remains a ghostly presence on these recordings but the guitar picking comes through clearly. At times, as Brian Jones once famously stated, it sounds as though there are 2 guitars playing and not the work of one man alone. With his innovative picking style now the archetype for rural blues, Johnson is graceful, emotive and potent.

Famed for his guitar skills, it's the voice that grabs attention. Listen to songs such as Hellhound On My Trail and you will hear a man possessed by the fear of retribution; Love In Vain the anguish of unrequited love; Ramblin' On My Mind the torment and pain reflecting the madness that being jilted can induce. In every instance the echoes of his ramblings haunt and stay with you long after the song has finished.

And then there is the song writing itself. Most famously perhaps, Johnson gave us Sweet Home Chicago; a song that resides in the conscience of both ardent and casual music fans a like. The Complete Robert Johnson comes across like a standards song book, the contents of which has given birth to numerous cover versions from acclaimed and esteemed bluesmen and rockers from across the globe spanning six decades.

Revered, reviled, repellent, sinful, majestic, magnetic, haunting. Many words have been conjured to describe Johnson both in his lifetime and since. Fiction or fact may never be distinguished, but the quality of the material and impact it has had since his passing will remain as long as mankind channels emotion through the musical medium.

Learn more about this author, Nick Nash.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.