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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com Review
Blues fans have long held up Robert Johnson's small but potent body of work as a slender pillar on which much modern blues and rock rest, and the songs themselves remain astonishing paradigms of the blues' most primordial style, the country blues of the Mississippi Delta. Yet, for decades after his murder in 1938, details of Johnson's life and clues into the genesis of his music consisted of little more than the evocative themes and settings of the songs themselves.
Blues fans have long held up Robert Johnson's small but potent body of work as a slender pillar on which much modern blues and rock rest, and the songs themselves remain astonishing paradigms of the blues' most primordial style, the country blues of the Mississippi Delta. Yet, for decades after his murder in 1938, details of Johnson's life and clues into the genesis of his music consisted of little more than the evocative themes and settings of the songs themselves.
This brief but absorbing meditation on Johnson's life and art, originally published in 1989 in anticipation of the first release of his complete recordings, benefits from the detective work of earlier blues scholars, most notably Mack McCormick, who began piercing the veil surrounding Johnson's life in the '60s. By the '80s, reminiscences from the bluesman's contemporaries, more solid evidence of his shadowy lineage, and even the belated discovery of photographs added more dimension to McCormick's "phantom" Johnson. Yet, possibly by his own design, Robert Johnson remained more outline than flesh, still explained more lucidly in the fevered nightmares and earthy imagery of his songs than by the scattered details of his life.
Guralnick succeeds in conveying the power of Johnson's music and delineating both its origins and, ultimately, singular genius. His debts to delta blues avatars Charley Patton and Tommy Johnson are solidified, yet, more crucially, Guralnick roots Johnson's artistic growth in the specific context of this rural corner of Mississippi, at this particular moment between the world wars. He also frankly addresses the potency of Johnson's myth and an early death that only glorifies the brief, bright arc of his work. No less crucial is Guralnick's ability to convey the dark beauty of the music itself, giving Searching for Robert Johnson a broader sweep as an essential blues primer. --Sam Sutherland
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
Gulalnick's extended essay about the life and legend of the "King of the Delta Blues Singers," and the time and place that produced both, illuminates much of the obscurity around the man without forfeiting any of the mystery. Photos.
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First Sentence:
WHEN I WAS A FRESHMAN in college, in 1961-62, my most precious possessions were my blues records and a portable stereo phonograph which my mother had uncharacteristically purchased with green stamps. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
hell hound Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Robert Johnson, Johnny Shines, Son House, Muddy Waters, Charley Patton, Robert Lockwood, Blues Unlimited, New York, Tommy Johnson, Skip James, Lonnie Johnson, Calvin Frazier, David Evans, San Antonio, Willie Brown, Blues World, Dust My Broom, Elmore James, Leroy Carr, Pete Welding, Big Bill Broonzy, Come On In My Kitchen, Don Law, Ernie Oertle, Gayle Dean Wardlow New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
WHEN I WAS A FRESHMAN in college, in 1961-62, my most precious possessions were my blues records and a portable stereo phonograph which my mother had uncharacteristically purchased with green stamps. Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
hell hound Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Robert Johnson, Johnny Shines, Son House, Muddy Waters, Charley Patton, Robert Lockwood, Blues Unlimited, New York, Tommy Johnson, Skip James, Lonnie Johnson, Calvin Frazier, David Evans, San Antonio, Willie Brown, Blues World, Dust My Broom, Elmore James, Leroy Carr, Pete Welding, Big Bill Broonzy, Come On In My Kitchen, Don Law, Ernie Oertle, Gayle Dean Wardlow New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | First Pages | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 12
books:
See all 12 books this book cites
24
books
cite this book:
See all 24 books citing this book
- Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom by Peter Guralnick on 4 pages
- Lost Highway by Peter Guralnick in Front Matter (1), Front Matter (2), and Front Matter (3)
- Gerard Manley Hopkins: Poet as Victorian by Wendell Stacy Johnson on page 27 (1), and page 27 (2)
- Nighthawk Blues: A Novel by Peter Guralnick in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
- Last Train to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
See all 12 books this book cites
- Blue by Benjamin Zucker in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues by Elijah Wald in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Understanding Rock: Essays in Musical Analysis by John Covach on page 89, and page 90
- Blues: The Basics (Basics (Routledge Paperback)) by Dick Weissman on page 55, and page 166
- Rhythm and Resistance: Explorations in the Political Uses of Popular Music (Media and Society Series) by Ray Pratt on page 126, and Back Matter
See all 24 books citing this book
What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?
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53% buy the item featured on this page: Searching for Robert Johnson |
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15% buy Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues $11.69 |
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11% buy Crossroads: The Life and Afterlife of Blues Legend Robert Johnson $10.17 |
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10% buy Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta $10.88 |
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