SonnyD4885
187 posts
Feb 17, 2012
7:44 AM
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i herd about Robert Johnson but i don't know any others i think this would be a good form to see what true and not?
p.s. did Robert Johnson play the harmonica?
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nacoran
5249 posts
Feb 17, 2012
8:07 AM
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Are you looking for supposedly true stories or just one that have a musical tradition? There is of course 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia', in the tradition of stories told. Our band plays our own Devil/Soul/Music themed song and we have a ghost song written about a local ghost story (not a musical ghost though.)
I wrote a tongue in cheek post about a ghost a long while back (which I can't seem to find- spooky) about a man named Big Reverend Sonny Junior II etc. etc. (I don't remember exactly what name I gave him.) The upshot of the story was he couldn't sell his soul to the devil because his name was too long for the form. He ended up haunting some amplifier instead. I wish I could find that post. :(
Lots of bluesmen, and other musicians for that matter, have died before their time. John Belushi might make an interesting blues subject. Buddy Holly, Richy Valens, Stuart Sutclifffe, not blues, but all interesting stories.
Are you looking for anything in particular?
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Nate
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Chinn
56 posts
Feb 17, 2012
8:27 AM
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Robert Palmer's book, "Deep Blues", has some great old stories in it.
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MrVerylongusername
2215 posts
Feb 17, 2012
8:39 AM
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Yes - I heard Johnson played some harp before he switched to guitar.
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SonnyD4885
188 posts
Feb 17, 2012
12:49 PM
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any story i like too hear them all
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jbone
787 posts
Feb 17, 2012
8:32 PM
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hear hear. the stories are often right there in the songs. Betty and Dupree. Frankie and Johnny. Statesboro Blues. there are thousands of stories in the call and response I-IV-V framework.
know what's REALLY cool? when you figure out how to write your OWN stories as blues songs.
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billy_shines
97 posts
Feb 17, 2012
10:43 PM
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robert johnson played a 3 string diddley bow as a child on the side of his house, consisting of 3 screen wires nails and a bottle. later he took up the jews harp and harmonica. he was terrible at guitar and spent time hiding with ike zimmerman and his family. ike taught johnson guitar. ike played slide with a bone then switched to a bottleneck, its unclear what johnson used but the photo with a cigarette appears to have a capo using a rib bone stuck under the strings. in a recent interveiw with ikes daughter she said her father would leave at midnight to go across the road to the graveyard to play for the haints. johnson learned in a graveyard not a crossroads. crossroads may have come from another song called graveyard blues " i went down to the graveyard, and i got down on my knees- i said mister gravedigger bring back my woman if you please..." robert johnson according to son house beleived in "silver dime magic" and made several references to hoodoo in songs ( stones in my passway, little queen of spades etc.) the god mercury on a dime is associated with the crossroads. there is no proof johnson sold his soul for guitar skills. tommy johnson not robert did openly claim to have sold his soul to the devil. which brings me to sonny boy williamson the last person to see johnson alive. usually the last person to see someone is a suspect. sonny was a violent drunk and totally paranoid about being poisoned. he never drank from bottles unless he opened the seal himself. he never ate at restaraunts in england he set his hotel room on fire cooking a rabbit in a coffee percolator. eric clapton said he knew his name was rice miller and sonny pulled a knife on him and threatened to kill him. sonny left the uk after after stabbing a guy in a street fight. another strange thing is sonny, elmore james, and aurthur crudup had some sort of meeting with johnson and jr lockwood before he died which resulted in some sort of song exchange. but yes sonny and robert are strange characters sonny was a drunk obsessed with religion but only on sunday. he vowed to god to play his harp every day because he blew one note and cyclone blew down the doors to parchman farm prison, sonny simply walked out into the eye of the storm. i think sonny killed robert johnson and possibly sonny boy the 1st. i have no idea what he was in parchman farm for but he certainly didnt want to go back.
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SonnyD4885
189 posts
Feb 18, 2012
7:36 AM
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Ike Zimmerman? Bob Dylans uncle or something jk i know who Ike is.
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Frank
267 posts
Feb 18, 2012
7:44 AM
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Iv'e read that Les Paul was the first to play electric harmonica.
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nacoran
5261 posts
Feb 18, 2012
3:22 PM
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There is the whole legend, across music, about being 27. There is a huge list of artists who died when they were 27 (I imagine if someone took the time to compile it there would also be a long list for 28, 29 etc.) but it's developed a sort of mythology around it. The list includes Jimmi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Curt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Brian Jones, Robert Johnson...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/27_Club
Lead Belly was released from jail early because of a song he wrote.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead_Belly
Johnny Cash started a forest fire (although it seems it was actually car trouble).
Sometimes they give you just enough to sort of form a story in your head-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Pines
Bob Dylan is folk not blues, but Hurricane is a good example of a blues story.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_(song)
Johnny Cash has tons of story songs that aren't blues but a lot of them could cross over easily.
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jbone
788 posts
Feb 18, 2012
6:45 PM
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not to stray too far off but i think mr. cash definitely had the blues. as did mr. hank williams (senior). mr bob dylan very definitely did not want to be mistaken for a copycat blues harp player so he did everything as oppositely as he could on harp. if you think he's a hack on harp try and do what he did note for note. and give a listen to "tangled up in blue" if you think he doesn't know about blues.
those statements about rice miller are pretty hard ones, i'd tread carefully if you don't have some sort of proof.
robert johnson was not the only or even the hottest player of the "new music' referred to as blues. people taught him after all. he did manage to record those 29 or so sides and they survived to drive a new generation or 3 and still do today. it's sort of like shakespeare, nobody knows much for certain about the man or what exactly his role was in all that material. one thing is sure, rj did those recordings. you can trace a lot of what's written today back to the 20's and rj. he covered a lot of ground in those recordings.
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