August 16, 1938: Robert Johnson dies. As with everything that happened in his life, his death comes under mysterious circumstances.
Robert Leroy Johnson was born on May 8, 1911 in Hazlehurst, Mississippi. At least, that's what his mother said, having lived long enough to be interviewed by music historians. He was not listed among her children in the 1910 Census, which supports her version of events. But in the 1920 Census, he is listed as 7 years old, suggesting a birthdate in late 1912 or early 1913.
His mother moved him around various places in the Mississippi Delta, including Memphis, Tennessee, where the Delta is often said to begin. (Traditionally, it's the part of northwestern Mississippi between the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers.) He married a 16-year-old girl when he was 18, but she died in childbirth, as did the baby. A 2nd marriage also ended when his wife died quickly. (Foul play has never been suggested in either case.) After this, he figured there was no reason to live out his life as a poor sharecropper, and committed himself to music.
He was described as pleasant and outgoing in public, but reserved in private; descriptions like "well mannered" and "soft spoken" were used. Blues guitarist Son House later told an interviewer that, when he met Johnson, he was a competent harmonica player, but an embarrassingly bad guitarist. He recalled that Johnson left town, came back a few weeks later, and was playing guitar better than anyone had ever seen.
In a 1966 interview with Down Beat, a jazz magazine, House provided an explanation, and it has become the story that everybody thinks they know about Robert Johnson: He made a deal with the Devil. He met the Devil at a rural crossroads, offering his soul in exchange for becoming the world's greatest guitar player.
Several towns have claimed to be the site of the crossroads in question. The one most often accepted is in Clarksdale, Mississippi, at the intersection of U.S. Routes 49 and 61. This may have been a rural area at the time, but it's pretty well developed now, to the point where Route 49 has been diverted around the town, and there is a memorial at the site, now labeled North State Street and DeSoto Avenue. The Delta Blues Museum is a mile to the north.
Route 61, a.k.a. the Blues Highway, runs from Wyoming, Minnesota south to New Orleans. Its run through his hometown of Hibbing, Minnesota, and its connection with Johnson, may be why Bob Dylan wrote a song titled "Highway 61 Revisited," and he even used that as the title for its album. But instead of suggesting a meeting with the Devil, Dylan cites a meeting with God in his song.
It's been suggested that the real reason that Johnson got good at guitar is, as it usually is in cases like these, not a deal with the Devil, but an old trinity: "Practice, practice, practice." Another legend suggests that he practiced in graveyards, so he wouldn't disturb anyone, or be disturbed.
He had 2 recording sessions, both in Texas: In San Antonio in 1936, and in Dallas in 1937, leaving 29 songs. Most were not released during his lifetime.
In 1938, Columbia Records producer John Hammond wanted to bring Johnson to New York, for his "From Spirituals to Swing" concert at Carnegie Hall. In 1941, Alan Lomax, who recorded many singers he'd heard about in the South, white and black alike, including Huddie Ledbetter, a.k.a. Lead Belly, went to Mississippi to record Johnson. Neither knew until it was too late that Johnson had died.
And how did that happen? Again, the stories conflict. In 1966, music historian Gayle Dean Wardlow found his death certificate, which gave the date as August 16, 1938, No one seems to dispute that date. If the May 8, 1911 birthdate is correct, then Johnson was 27 years old -- making him, perhaps, the earliest known member of what became known as rock and roll's "27 Club." (There had been earlier creative artists to die at that age, most notably poet Rupert Brooke.)
But the cause of death, who caused it (if it was anything other than natural causes), and where it happened are in dispute. It seems to have been in, or at least near, Greenwood, Mississippi. The death certificate does not list a cause.
The most common story, although the specifics differ, is that he was murdered by the husband of a woman he was flirting with. Aleck Miller, the 2nd and better-known blues singer to use the name Sonny Boy Williamson, said that the husband gave Johnson a bottle of whiskey he'd poisoned, and that it took Johnson 3 terribly painful days to die.
Music historian Robert "Mack" McCormick claimed that he'd determined the identity of the killer, tracked him down, and interviewed him, getting a confession, on the condition that he not reveal the man's name. He never did. He may have been making it up.
Non-murder suggestions have included syphilis, certainly possible given Johnson's womanizing; and Marfan syndrome, which would explain Johnson's long, thin appearance, including long, thin fingers, which would have aided him in playing guitar, but would also have damaged his heart. To me, this sounds like the most logical explanation for his skill (besides a lot of practice), and for his death.
Presuming the death certificate is correct about the date of death, then Robert Johnson, "the King of the Delta Blues," died on an August 16 -- as would, 10 years later, Babe Ruth, "the Sultan of Swat"; and, 29 years after that, Elvis Presley, "the King of Rock and Roll." But no one has ever suggested that the Babe or Elvis made a deal with the Devil for their great talents.
At its 1st induction ceremony, in 1986, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame made Johnson one of its charter inductees in the "Early Influence" category, calling him "the first ever rock star."
It is not clear if Johnson had any children. In 1998, the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled that Claud Johnson, a retired truck driver who claimed to be the result of a 1931 relationship between Robert Johnson and Vergie Mae Smith, was his son, and thus his legal heir. But Robert's half-sister, Carrie Harris Thompson, and her children disputed this. Claud Johnson died in 2015, leaving his shares of his apparent father's royalties to his 6 children.
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August 16, 1938 was a Tuesday. These baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Washington Senators at Griffith Stadium in Washington, 16-1 and 6-2. Lefty Gomez went the distance in the opener, and Red Ruffing did so in the nightcap. In the 1st game, Lou Gehrig went 4-for-4 with a home run and 5 RBIs, and Joe DiMaggio went 0-for-4, although he drew 2 walks. In the 2nd game, it was the other way around: The Iron Horse went 0-for-5, but the Yankee Clipper went 3-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs.
* The Brooklyn Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the New York Giants, 7-3 at the Polo Grounds. Ernie Koy hit a home run for the Dodgers. Mel Ott went 0-for-2 with 2 walks for the Giants.
* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 14-11 at Fenway Park in Boston. Yes, that's baseball, not football. For the A's, Clarence "Ace" Parker, a decent baseball player but a Hall of Fame quarterback in the NFL, went 3-for-5 with 4 RBIs; while Wally Moses and Frankie Hayes also had 3 hits, 1 of Hayes' being a home run. For the Red Sox, former A's slugger Jimmie Foxx hit 2 home runs, and Roger "Doc" Cramer went 2-for-6 with 4 RBIs.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Boston Bees (a name the Braves used from 1936 to 1940), 7-6 in 11 innings at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. (It was renamed Connie Mack Stadium in 1953.) Baseball-Reference.com does not have a play-by-play for this game, so I can't tell you how the winning run was scored.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Cincinnati Reds, 10-0 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh. Cy Blanton allowed 8 hits, but pitched a shutout.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the St. Louis Browns, 9-6 at League Park in Cleveland.
* A doubleheader between arch-rivals was split at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Chicago Cubs won the 1st game, 5-4. Frank Demaree tripled home the winning run in the bottom of the 11th. The St. Louis Cardinals won the 2nd game, 5-2.
* And the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers were rained out at Briggs Stadium in Detroit. (It was renamed Tiger Stadium in 1961.) The game was made up the next day, as part of a doubleheader. The Tigers swept, 4-3 and 3-2. Hank Greenberg would hit 58 home runs that season, but didn't even get a hit that day, going 0-for-8 in the twinbill.
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