Robert Johnson Revisted
Robert Johnson is the most iconic blues musician of all time, but has anyone heard what his music really sounds like? Guitarists have (quite literally) gone insane trying to replicate his sound, but did anyone ever get it right? And if you took away the ghost story about him selling his soul to the devil at the cross roads in exchange for musical genius, well, would anyone still think he was a musical genius?
The answer to the first question is, no — unless you’ve heard these speed-corrected dubs, then you’ve only heard something that’s very distorted.
The answer to the second question is (did anyone learn to play Johnson from those recordings?) — no, not hardly, though several people went mad trying. Truth be that anyone who tries to replicate Columbia’s re-release of RJ’s 78s on vinyl was on a fool’s errand. They were never speed-corrected. As heard, they are technically unplayable.
And really, they’re pretty hard to listen to. The revved up tape speed makes it all sound creepy and weird, fine for a haunted house movie, and the speedy-gonzales on helium sound provides atmospherics for the ghost story.
Finally, what’s left of Robert Johnson when you take away the ghostly effects of bad dubs from warped 78s, whatever, and spooky devil stories? Part of what made people believe he had a supernatural edge was the preternatural speed he seemed to be playing at.
Is he even particularly remarkable when his playing is slowed down to the speed of a mere mortal?
The answer is unqualified. For a lot of people including myself, hearing something that I believe to be what he truly sounded like blew my socks off. For singer-songwriter-guitarists, it’s on par with what the Dead Sea Scrolls were for bible scholars.
Robert Johnson was true American musical genius and a lyrical vision that saw through dimensions, is what I’m putting down.
I’ve been working on my Johnson repertoire for a few years now and feel I’ve reached a nexus of accuracy and ownership that makes for authenticity. I also have an unusual conviction this this music is really pressing to make itself heard, insisting on it in fact!
I’m putting together a set to go with another period piece I’m working on, which is to narrate a new audiobook of the depression-era surrealist/existential novel, ‘The Day of the Locust,’ by Nathaneal West. The set will also include songs by the great Skip James and others.
