{"id":13157,"date":"2012-04-24T19:58:11","date_gmt":"2012-04-24T23:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/?p=13157"},"modified":"2012-04-25T09:44:08","modified_gmt":"2012-04-25T13:44:08","slug":"please-explain-robert-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/please-explain-robert-johnson\/","title":{"rendered":"Please Explain: Robert Johnson"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>UPDATED&#8230;after the jump!<\/h1><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qD2jXjV9Z8A?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><p>I was listening to <em><a href=\"http:\/\/americanroutes.wwno.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">American Routes<\/a><\/em> on NPR last night while washing the dishes. Over the years, host <strong>Nick Spitzer<\/strong> has opened my ears to all kinds of American roots artists I&#8217;d previously found boring. Not everything he plays works for me (I still can&#8217;t stand most of that accordion-driven music from Louisiana), but as great DJs can do, there&#8217;s something about the way he sets up and frames the music he plays each week that often works wonders.<\/p>\n<p>While I was scrubbing a roasting pan last night, Spitzer introduced <strong>Robert Johnson<\/strong>&#8216;s original recording of &#8220;Crossroads.&#8221; Because there&#8217;s so little blues music I&#8217;ve liked over the years and because I&#8217;ve never previously found anything that interesting about Johnson, the most legendary bluesman ever and probably an inspiration for not only the movie <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/sound-off-2\/\" target=\"_blank\">Crossroads<\/a><\/em> but my favorite blues-based movie, <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/films-that-don-t-rock-da-blooz-exorcist\/\" target=\"_blank\">Black Snake Moan<\/a><\/em>, I put down the scrubber and let the pan soak a few minutes longer, so I could pay full attention to what Spitzer announced was probably Johnson&#8217;s most influential recording.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>There were a few good guitar licks, but it wasn&#8217;t much of a song. I didn&#8217;t find Johnson&#8217;s voice compelling. The lyrical theme of having &#8220;sold his soul to the devil&#8221; was, as I&#8217;ve always believed, as preposterous as any <em>fahntasy<\/em> nonsense in a <strong>Yes<\/strong> song. I don&#8217;t believe in Satan. Why should I give a shit?<\/p>\n<p>Aren&#8217;t most of the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/index.php\/crapton\/\" target=\"_blank\">rock legends<\/a> who profess profound debt to Robert Johnson the kind of artists we tend to scoff at or feel do little to live up to the legacy? What am I missing in the <em>music<\/em> of Robert Johnson. I accept the fact that he&#8217;s historic and legendary because he&#8217;s been cited as such, but why? I know he only cut a couple dozen recordings. It&#8217;s not like anyone can attest to his &#8220;awesome live shows!&#8221; Please explain. Thank you.<\/p>\n<h1>UPDATE:<\/h1>\n<p><strong>Mr. Royale<\/strong> sent me the following note, link, and slowed-down Robert Johnson tracks. Check it out!<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>One thing that may light the way about Robert Johnson is to hear him in a different\u00a0context, rather than via Clapton et.al.<\/p>\n<p>see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.touched.co.uk\/press\/rjnote.html\" target=\"_blank\">http:\/\/www.touched.co.uk\/press\/rjnote.html<\/a> for a more detailed account, but\u00a0there is a standing argument that we&#8217;re listening to the RJ recordings at the wrong<br \/>\nspeed.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m attaching some mp3&#8217;s of RJ slowed down a tad, to what is arguably the original\u00a0frequency and quality of his voice and vibrato.<\/p>\n<p>I personally find the recordings much more listenable and intriguing.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n[audio:http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/02-Crossroads-Blues.mp3|titles=Robert Johnson, &#8220;Crossroads Blues&#8221; (slowed down)]\n[audio:http:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/16-Me-And-The-Devil-Blues.mp3|titles=Robert Johnson, &#8220;Me and the Devil Blues&#8221;]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>UPDATED&#8230;after the jump! I was listening to American Routes on NPR last night while washing the dishes. Over the years, host Nick Spitzer has opened my ears to all kinds of American roots artists I&#8217;d previously found boring. Not everything he plays works for me (I still can&#8217;t stand most of that accordion-driven music from <a href='https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/please-explain-robert-johnson\/' class='excerpt-more'>[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[105,127],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13157"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13157\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}