Legends+and+Stories+of+the+Blues

The Crossroads Curse:

"In the delta of the Mississippi River, where Robert Johnson was born, they said that if an aspiring bluesman waited by the side of a deserted country crossroads in the dark of a moonless night, then Satan himself might come and tune his guitar, sealing a pact for the bluesman's soul and guaranteeing a lifetime of easy money, women, and fame. They said that Robert Johnson must have waited by the crossroads and gotten his guitar fine-tuned."

One of the most known Blues Legends is the Curse of the Crossroads. "Crossroads", a composition by Robert Johnson, is believed to be Cursed. Legend goes that Robert Johnson made a deal with the devil at the intersection of two roads; selling his soul for extraordinary musical talent. Crossroads is one of the best known example of Delta Blues and has been recorded numerous times by various artists. Some say that the crossroads are known as an evil place and a work of Black Magic. Robert Johnson Died at the age of 27; Legend goes the Devil came to collect his dues.

When he left after being at the crossroads he came back and has adopted the finger picking technique.
The Crossroads Curse has been associated with many tragedies over the years:

· Brian Jones · Jimi Hendrix · Janis Joplin · Jim Morrison · Kurt Cobain · Brad Nowell · Jesse Belvin · Malcolm Hale <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· Linda Jones <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· Ron "Pigpen" McKernan <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· Dave Alexander <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· Pete Ham <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· Gary Thain <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· Helmut Köllen <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· Chris Bell <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· D. Boon <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· Jean-Michel Basquiat <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· Pete de Freitas <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· Mia Zapata <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· Kristen Pfaff <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· Richey Edwards (disappeared and presumed dead) <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· Fat Pat <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· Freaky Tah <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· Sean Patrick McCabe <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· Jeremy Michael Ward <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· Bryan Ottoson <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· Valentín Elizalde <span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">· Levi Kereama

<span style="background: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;">All died at the age of 27 !

Many of Robert Johnsons are believed to be referring to the crossroads:

//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">"I went down to the crossroads and fell down on my knees, asked the Lord up above for mercy, save poor Bob if you please." //<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">-- **<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Cross Road Blues ****//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">by Robert Johnson //** //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">"You may bury my body down by the highway side so my old evil spirit can get a Greyhound bus and ride." //<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">-- **<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Me And The Devil Blues ****//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">by Robert Johnson //** //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">"If you want to learn to play anything you want to play and learn how to make songs yourself, you take your guitar and you go to where a crossroads is. A big black man will walk up there at the stroke of midnight and take your guitar, and he'll tune it..." //<span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">-- **//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">LeDell Johnson //**

<span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-color: white; background-image: none; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 10.5pt; line-height: 16.2pt; margin-bottom: 9pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;">media type="file" key="03 hellhound on my trail.m4a" width="300" height="50" **//<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;">Hellhound on my Trail - //<span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10.5pt;"> Robert Johnson **

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 * Just how did Robert learn to play so well so fast?** Robert Johnson was a Mississippi blues singer and songwriter, who according to legend, sold his soul to Satan "at the crossroads" in exchange for his remarkable talent on the guitar.======

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Born and raised in Mississippi, Robert Johnson started playing blues guitar in the late 1920s. Part of the crossroads story comes from a report that he dropped out of sight for a while in the early 1930s and returned a much-improved guitarist. In 1936-37 he recorded at least 29 songs in Texas, then returned to Mississippi to play and sing in clubs and bars. His mysterious death at the age of 27 added to the legend: He died in 1938, falling ill after playing a party and dying four days later. Some people said that Robert’s deal with the devil came due and as evidence gave the fact that they had seen him on all fours, howling at the moon the night he died. ...Or that he was shot by a jealous husband ( Robert was not shy with the ladies, and often stayed in strange towns with women he found at the places he played at. ). Or stabbed by a woman. The truth is that Robert was poisoned, either by the barkeeper at the saloon he played that night, who was angry because Robert had been talking to his wife, or by a jealous girlfriend. Whatever the reason, Johnson died at the young age of twenty-seven, and left a legacy of Delta Blues music that has influenced guitar players like Muddy Waters, and his songs have been covered by several rock stars, including Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones. In 1986 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His songs include "Crossroad Blues," "Me and the Devil Blues" and "Terraplane Blues."======

TEST QUESTIONS

1. List five artists that died at the age of twenty-seven. 2. Where was Robert Johnson born? 3. What year was Robert Johnson inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of fame? 4. What was a suggested way that Robert Johnson died? 5. What technique did Robert Johnson become famous before? 6. Where and what did Robert sell to the 'Devil' and what for? 7. List one or more Robert Johnson songs.