Robert Johnson

Robert Johnsons gravsted

Robert Leroy Johnson ( 8. maj 1911 – 16. august 1938) var en amerikansk blues musiker, og blandt de berømteste Delta blues musikere. Johnsons lidelsesfulde, mangelfuldt dokumenterede karriere og død som 27-årig har affødt mange myter om ham. Johnsons plader solgte meget beskedent i hans levetid, og først efter en genudgivelse af hans indspilninger i 1961 på King of the Delta Blues Singers, blev der skabt opmærksomhed om hans sange. Han nævnes af mange rockmusikere som en vigtig inspirator for deres musik. Hans epokegørende indspilninger fra 1936–1937 viser en bemærkelsesværdig kombination af sang- og guitarbeherskelse, og et talent for sangskrivning, der har inspireret generationer af musikere. Han blev udnævnt som nummer 5 i The 100 Greatest Guitarist of All Time i magasinet Rolling Stone.

Originalitet

Fil:Robert Johnson - Kind Hearted Woman Blues.oga

Lydfil med Kindhearted Woman af Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson har opfundet en væsentlig del af de guitarriffs, som bluesmusikerne stadig bygger videre på. Et eksempel er riffet i If I had possesion over judgement day, som er basis for f.eks. Muddy Waters Rolling and Tumbling.

Inspiration

Robert Johnson har inspireret utallige blues- og Rock – guitarister. Eric Clapton har betegnet ham som "den vigtigste bluesmusiker, der nogensinde har levet." Clapton har udgivet en hyldest CD, Me and Mr. Johnson, som udelukkende indeholder Robert Johnson kompositioner. The Rolling Stones er blandt de talrige Bands, der har indspillet Love in Vain og I Believe I'll Dust My Broom er – undertiden under titlen Dust my Blues – indspillet af mere end hundrede Bluesmusikere.

En interessant teori

Mange eksperter har påpeget, at Johnsons stemme er usædvanlig lys på de to originale Albums, og på denne baggrund er opstået en diskussion om, hvorvidt pladeselskabet har forøget tempoet på disse indspilninger. Det hævdes her, at indspilningerne lyder mere autentiske, hvis de spilles i 80% af det tempo, som pladerne anvender. Nogle numre, f.eks. Love in Vain lyder imidlertid "uldne" i det alternative tempo, mens andre, f.eks. Me and the devil blues, forekommer mere autentiske i det "nye" tempo.

Myter

Der er mange myter om Johnson, bl.a., at han solgte sin sjæl til djævelen for at opnå bedre færdighed som guitarist. . Teksterne på Me and the devil blues og Crossroad bidrager til denne myte.

Kompositioner af Robert Johnson

1936

32-20 Blues

Come On In My Kitchen

Cross Road Blues

Dead Shrimp Blues

I Believe I'll Dust My Broom

If I Had Possession Over Judgment Day

Kindhearted Woman Blues

Last Fair Deal Gone Down

Phonograph Blues

Preaching Blues (Up Jumped the Devil)

Rambling On My Mind

Sweet Home Chicago

Terraplane Blues

They're Red Hot

Walking Blues

When You Got a Good Friend

1937

Drunken Hearted Man

From Four Till Late

Hellhound On My Trail

Honeymoon Blues

I'm a Steady Rollin' Man

Little Queen of Spades

Love in Vain

Malted Milk

Me and the Devil Blues

Milkcow's Calf Blues

Stones in my Passway

Stop Breakin' Down Blues

Traveling Riverside Blues

Litteratur

• Blues World – Booklet No.1 – Robert Johnson – Four Editions, First published 1967
• Blesh, Rudi (1946) "Jazz Begins" quoted in Marybeth Hamilton (below).
• Charters, Samuel B (1959). The Country Blues. Rinehart.
• Charters, Samuel B (1967). The Bluesman. The story of the music of the men who made the Blues. Oak Publications.
• Charters, Samuel B (1973). Robert Johnson. Oak Publication. ISBN 0-8256-0059-6
• Edwards, David Honeyboy (1997). The World Don't Owe Me Nothing. The Life and Times of Delta Bluesman Honeyboy Edwards. Chicago Review Press. ISBN 1-55652-368-8
• Evans, David (1971). Tommy Johnson. Studio Vista. SBN 289 70150
• Ferguson, James & Richard Gellis (1976): Country Blues Bottleneck Guitar (Walter Kane Publications, New York)
• Freeland, Tom (2000). Robert Johnson: Some Witnesses to a Short Life in Living Blues no. 150 March/April 200 p. 49
• Gioia, Ted (2008). Delta Blues. The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionised American Music. Norton, ISBN 978-0-393-33750-1
• Graves, Tom (2008). Crossroads: The Life and Afterlife of Blues Legend Robert Johnson. DeMers Books, ISBN 978-0-9816002-1-5
• Greenberg, Alan (1983). Love in Vain: The Life and Legend of Robert Johnson. Doubleday Books, ISBN 0-385-15679-0
  • 1994 revised edition retitled Love in Vain: A Vision of Robert Johnson, with foreword by Martin Scorsese, Da Capo Press, ISBN 0-306-80557-X
• Guralnick, Peter (1989). Searching for Robert Johnson (1989). E. P. Dutton hardcover: ISBN 0-525-24801-3, Plume 1998 paperback: ISBN 0-452-27949-6
• Komara, Edward (2007). The Road to Robert Johnson, The genesis and evolution of blues in the Delta from the late 1800s through 1938. Hal Leonard. ISBN 0-634-00907-9
• Marcus, Greil (1975). Mystery Train. E.P. Dutton.
• Hamilton, Marybeth (2007). In Search of the Blues. Black Voices, White Visions. Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0-224-06018-X
• Lomax, Alan (1993). The Land Where the Blues Began. Methuen. ISBN 0-413-67850-4
• Neff, Robert & Anthony Connor (1975). Blues. David R Godine. Quoted in Pearson & McCulloch p. 114.
• Palmer, Robert (1982) paperback edition. Deep Blues. Macmillan, ISBN 0-333-34039-6
• Pearson, Barry Lee; McCulloch, Bill (2003). Robert Johnson: Lost and Found. University of Illinois Press, ISBN 0-252-02835-X
• Schroeder, Patricia R. (2004). Robert Johnson, Mythmaking, and Contemporary American Culture. University of Illinois Press, ISBN 0-252-02915-1
• Russell, Tony (2004). Country Music records, A Discography, 1921–1942. Oxford. ISBN 0-19-513989-5
• Townsend, Henry (1999). A Blues Life. As told to Bill Greensmith. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-02526-1
• Wald, Elijah (2004). Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues. Amistad. ISBN 0-06-052423-5
• Wardlow, G., & Komara, E. M. (1998). Chasin' that devil music: searching for the blues. San Francisco, Calif: Miller Freeman Books. ISBN 0-87930-652-1
• Welding, Pete (1966). Robert Johnson. Hell hound on his trail. In Down Beat Music '66: 73–76, 103
• Wolf, Robert (2004) Hellhound on My Trail: The Life of Robert Johnson, Bluesman Extraordinaire. Mankato, MN: Creative Editions. ISBN 1-56846-146-1

Eksterne links

• Robert Johnson death certificate – State of Mississippi
• Los Angeles Times article regarding Johnson's life and legacy, and the legal battle over it
• Vanity Fair article (November 2008 edition) on a purported new photograph of Robert Johnson with Johnny Shines
• Article about pitch speed
• Website at the University of Virginia
• Site for "Escaping the Delta" with links to related material
• Delta Guitar Player Robert Johnson
• Robert Johnson at Find-A-Grave
• Deal with the Devil: Understanding Robert Johnson, His Music and His Impact by the Soul of Rock 'n' Roll