Crossroads Revisited - New Takes on Robert Johnson

Few have captured the imagination of modern musicians the way that Robert Johnson has. Some new research is now claiming that overactive imagination may be involved, and that colorful myths about Johnson are obscuring the true story of the origins of the blues. In the midst of this debate, guitarist Eric Clapton has released a new set of Johnson tunes.

Musician and writer Elijah Wald’s new book “Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues, has drawn a lot of attention for its myth-busting claims, which include (according to recent news accounts):

• "As far as the evolution of black music goes, Robert Johnson was an extremely minor figure."
• Johnson's primacy was largely a creation of 1960's music fans and critics, mostly white
• "The blues was pop music - it simply wasn't folk music."
• Robert Johnson and Bessie Smith were not field laborers, but the "Sam Cooke, Snoop Dog, and Aretha Franklin" of their place and time

According to Wald, Johnson himself was a marginally successful regional player who mostly imitated the hit music he was hearing around him. More successful since his 1938 death, Johnson's "Complete Recordings" has sold around 2 million copies, owing to the lurid myths of him trading his soul at a Mississippi crossroads for magical guitar skills, and his role as icon to famous rock guitarists starting in the 1960s.

Director Martin Scorsese's recent PBS series, "The Blues," also told the story of the blues as a folky, rural phenomenon. Wald's view is one of a vibrant pop scene now mostly obscured by the Johnson legends.

Last year, academic Barry Lee Pearson and journalist Bill McCulloch published a book that traced the "crossroads" legend to a single interview of Johnson friend, musician Son House. Professor Patricia R. Schroeder's book on the subject compares Johnson to Elvis and Hank Williams, someone who can "be all things to all people."

Read the New York Times article (via the Anniston Star) about revising the history of the blues

Read Elijah Wald's own words about Robert Johnson, as well as press coverage of Wald's book for reviews and interviews and recommended blues CDs

Read about Robert Johnson: Lost & Found (by academic Barry Lee Pearson and journalist Bill McCulloch ) from the publisher's site or on Amazon.com

Read about Robert Johnson, Mythmaking and Contemporary American Culture (by Patricia R. Schroeder) from the publisher's site or on Amazon.com

Clapton's latest release, "Me and Mr. Johnson," is a tribute that contains mostly more obscure Johnson tunes. Clapton told National Public Radio that, "in one way or another, [Johnson's] been in my life since I was a kid... It was about time that I took my hat off to him."

Reviews have been mixed:

• Entertainment Weekly's Chris Willman (April 2, 2004) gave it a B+. This “will likely become a coffee-table album… Having made his own devilish deal, Clapton sounds reinvigorated.”
• The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Shane Harrison (March 30, 2004) graded it only a D+. The songs, “terrifying and strange in their original form… here sound like a walk to church through Beaver Cleaver’s neighborhood. It’s like the Robert Johnson ride at Disney.”
• Newsweek’s David Gates (March 29, 2004) notes that Clapton “nailed ‘Crossroads’ once and for all back in 1968.”  His new interpretations are “more respectful, more tasteful - and basically unnecessary.”

Listen to NPR's feature on Clapton

Browse Clapton's latest release on Amazon.com or browse the original, Complete Recordings of Robert Johnson