Thursday, May 5, 2011

Robert Johnson at 100: Legacy, legend

Thursday, May 5, 2011









Iconic Mississippi Delta bluesman Robert Johnson's life was brief (he died at 27) and his recorded output was modest (just 29 songs), but his legacy looms larger than ever in the centennial year of his birth.





  • By Stephen C. LaVere, Columbia


    "The story doesn't get old or tired, and people still need to hear about it": Robert Johnson, who died at the age of 27, left behind a small but ageless body of work.



By Stephen C. LaVere, Columbia


"The story doesn't get old or tired, and people still need to hear about it": Robert Johnson, who died at the age of 27, left behind a small but ageless body of work.






In anticipation of the May 8 milestone, the music world is honoring the man behind a powerful legend — Johnson is said to have sold his soul to the devil in exchange for guitar-playing prowess — with festivals, tribute records and expansive repackaging of his recordings.


"His music is great, he is great, the story doesn't get old or tired, and people still need to hear about it," says Steve Berkowitz, co-producer (with Michael Brooks) of two new Johnson album sets from Sony's Columbia/Legacy division.


The limited-edition four-CD box Robert Johnson: The Complete Original Masters Centennial Edition ($349; sold through thecompleterobertjohnson.com) contains all of his 29 recordings and 13 alternate takes from 1936 and 1937 sessions, newly remastered. They're packaged with the two-disc Rarities From the Vaults, featuring roots artists who recorded during the same sessions as Johnson, and rare tracks by his likely influences, including Tommy Johnson, Memphis Minnie and Blind Willie McTell.


Also new is Robert Johnson: The Centennial Collection, a widely available two-CD set of all of Johnson's recordings. It's an updated version of the platinum-selling 1990 box set The Complete Recordings, with a new essay, biography and artwork.


Songs such as Cross Road Blues,Sweet Home Chicago and Love in Vain, reissued on vinyl in 1961 and 1970, influenced a generation of blues-rock heroes, including Eric Clapton, Robert Plant and Paul Butterfield, and the original box became the best-selling blues album of all-time.


Johnson's final days are shrouded in mystery — popular legend has it he was poisoned by a jealous husband and died outside Greenwood, Miss., in 1938. But his legacy is thriving there and elsewhere this year:


•Greenwood will host a four-day celebration starting today, highlighted by a seminar, tours of blues heritage sites and a concert Saturday afternoon featuring the Warren Haynes Band, Johnson contemporary David "Honeyboy" Edwards and Keb' Mo' (greenwoodms.org).


•At the May 4-5 Blues Awards/Hall of Fame ceremonies in Memphis, Love in Vain will be inducted (joining five other Johnson songs) and his heirs will be given plaques (blues.org).


•The Chicago Blues Festival June 10-12 will explore Johnson's life with a panel discussion led by Johnson's grandson, Steven, and a tribute concert featuring Edwards and Hubert Sumlin (chicagobluesfestival.us).





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