Robert Johnson
King of the Delta Blues Singers:
The life of , one of the most influential early blues artists, in shrouded by vague details and encompassed in mystery. His emotion filled playing and singing blends to form some of the most moving, original blues music ever produced. Ironically, despite being one of the top influences to blues music, little is known about the shy, mild mannered bluesman. "Almost nothing, is known about his life� he is only a name on a few recordings." Where did he come from? Who was Johnson�s family. Who inspired Robert to play the blues and who influenced his music? Who exactly was ? Only the vague recollections of his friends and family link us to the ...
Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers
|
Robert set on my lap and try to keep time, look like, or hold on to my skirt and sort of jig up and down and laugh and laugh." (Lomax, 14) Thus, Robert was first introduced by his church into the world of music and was forever captured by its beauty.
Mrs. Johnson didn�t have much trouble with Robert as a child but as he grew older, he became more and more intrigued about the extravagant life of the bluesmen, and taken by the spiritual music. He started following the musicians around, staying out all night, intrigued by the bluesman�s free lifestyle.
Anyone that had a guitar, little Robert would follow off according to his mother. "Sometimes he wouldn�t come home," Robert�s mother recalls, "and a whippin never did him no good." Mrs. Johnson feared the worst for Robert, she believed the guitar was the instrument of the devil and that the music he listened to was full of sin. Robert would ease her worries by playing church songs to her, yet this never erased the fear ...
Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.
Already a member? Login
|
famous bluesman, Son House. Son House was a student of Charlie Patton, one of the first well known Delta Blues musicians. Son also had also learned quite a bit from a gentlemen referred to as Lemon, a name given to him for the fact that he had learned every Blind Lemon piece directly from the phonograph (Blind Lemon is was one of the first Mississippi Delta bluesmen). Son�s playing largely resembled that of Lemon�s, "The high pitch delivery, the brilliant counter melodies between phrases." (Lomax, 13) And thus, Robert Johnson unknowingly inherited the powerful influence of a long line of famous Delta bluesmen.
Son House recalls how, "We�d all play for the Saturday Night Balls and ...
Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library.
Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports,
and research papers in 2 minutes or less.
|
CITE THIS PAGE:
Robert Johnson. (2008, April 6). Retrieved November 28, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Robert-Johnson/81672
"Robert Johnson." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 6 Apr. 2008. Web. 28 Nov. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Robert-Johnson/81672>
"Robert Johnson." Essayworld.com. April 6, 2008. Accessed November 28, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Robert-Johnson/81672.
"Robert Johnson." Essayworld.com. April 6, 2008. Accessed November 28, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Robert-Johnson/81672.
|
Save
Report