| LEGACY
Through a variety of accounts, including those by fellow blues artists David “Honeyboy” Edwards and Sonny Boy Williamson, we know that Johnson spent the last weeks of his life playing regularly at a juke joint attached to The Three Forks Store, just outside of Greenwood. In one version of the story, Johnson flirted with a woman at the party (possibly the wife of the store’s owner) and was poisoned by her jealous husband. He became so sick that he had to be taken into Greenwood, where he perished. In 1968, Mississippi journalist Gayle Dean Wardlow sought to find out the truth about Johnson’s final days. In addition to unearthing his death certificate, Wardlow discovered that the artist may have been born with congenital syphilis. According to a doctor, it is possible that he had an aneurysm caused by syphilis and his love of drinking moonshine. In a more recent account, published in 2006 in the British Medical Journal, Dr. David Connell argues that, based on Johnson’s appearance in photos, the artist may have suffered from Marfan Syndrome. The genetic disorder, which affects the body’s connective tissue, could have contributed to Johnson’s early death. Johnson’s final resting spot is also just as confusing as his death. Today, three headstones around Greenwood pay tribute to the bluesman. In 1990, Columbia Records erected a monument at the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church, where the artist was long believed to be buried in an unmarked grave. That same year, an Atlanta band (aptly named The Tombstones) had a smaller marker placed at the Payne Chapel in Quito, Mississippi, where it was also alleged that Johnson was laid to rest. In 2000, an 85-year-old woman named Rosie Eksridge claimed that her husband had helped bury Johnson under a pecan tree at a church north of Greenwood, where a third headstone now sits. Of all the myths surrounding Johnson’s life, the most famous one is a claim that the artist sold his soul to the Devil in order to become a famous blues artist. Residents of the Mississippi Delta roll their eyes when blues enthusiasts ask about the crossroads where Johnson supposedly met the Devil. Those in the know do not bother asking; they simply visit the junction of Highway 61 and Highway 49 and take a photo. But that modern-day spot where the two highways meet is at least half a mile from the one that would have existed in Johnson’s lifetime. So, in fact, there are no actual crossroads. In “Cross Road Blues,” Johnson sings an age-old tale about a man’s choice between good and evil: “I went to the crossroad, fell down on my knees/Asked the Lord above ‘Have mercy, now save poor Bob, if you please.’ There is a longstanding Delta legend of a bluesman who waited by the side of a deserted crossroads one night for Satan to come and tune his guitar. It’s a story made more relevant when coupled with Johnson’s frequent references to the Devil, including in the song “Me And The Devil Blues,” in which he sings, “Me and the Devil, was walkin’ side by side.” Other songs like “Preachin’ Blues (Up Jumped The Devil)” and “Hell Hound on My Trail” help mythologize the artist’s supposed deal with Satan. But Johnson certainly was not the only blues artist who sang about the Devil. Skip James, Tampa Red, Lonnie Johnson, Joe Williams, and Peetie Wheatstraw, to name a few, all sang of Satan – the latter artist even nicknamed himself “The Devil’s Son-in-Law” after one of his 1931 recordings. While Johnson’s incredible improvements on the guitar, as detailed by Son House, were certainly miraculous, a 2008 story in Living Blues Magazine offers a more viable explanation. In that two-year period, when Johnson first travelled the Delta, he met guitarist Ike Zimmerman, who took the young artist under his tutelage. According to blues scholar Bruce Conforth, Johnson spent the better part of a year living with Zimmerman, and studying his craft. In 1961, Columbia released King of the Delta Blues Singers, a compilation of Johnson’s music. The album made its way into the hands of American folk artists, including Bob Dylan, and soon became an immensely popular title among artists in Britain’s emerging rock scene, inspiring the likes of Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin. Countless artists (including almost everyone mentioned in this story) have covered Johnson’s songs, while many of rock’s greatest guitarists, including Clapton and Jimi Hendrix, have cited Johnson as an influence. Johnson’s work also helped usher in the electrified, mid-century style of Chicago blues, played by the likes of Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, and Chuck Berry. Johnson’s legacy and his immense contributions to popular music have been recognized by a broad range of institutions, including the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the US Postal Service, the Library of Congress, and the Recording Academy, which bestowed a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award upon Johnson in 2006.
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