Searching for Robert Johnson: The Life and Legend of the "King of the Delta Blues Singers"

By Peter Guralnick

Book Overview

Robert Johnson, while probably the most influential of all blues guitarists, is also one of the most obscure. Recognized as an influence on musicians like Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones, Johnson was poisoned by a jealous husband in 1938--at the age of twenty-seven. This untimely death, his supposed bargain with the devil that enabled him to play guitar, and the ferocity and tormented originality of his work have given rise to a legend that has inspired a Hollywood movie and numerous stories.Peter Guralnick's extended essay about the life of the man and the myth, and of the place and time that produced both, illuminates much of the obscurity around Johnson without forfeiting any of the mystery.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525248013
• ISBN13: 9780525248019
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Dutton Books
• Length: 83 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.5" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

worth reading

Excellent book. Interesting prospective not only of Robert Johnson, but of his contemporaries.

Vivid description of the blues great

The 96 pages of this book are pack full of information about legendary bluesman Robert Johnson. Virtually everything that is known about Mr. Johnson is vividly detailed in this work. Makes for excellent reading.