The legend goes that Johnson was a Southern blues musician of middling talent, struggling to get gigs and make ends meet. Desparately wanting to be a great bluesman, he waited one night at the crossroad near a plantation, and at midnight was greeted by the devil who took the form of an extremely large black man. The devil took his guitar and tuned it, and passing it back to Johnson, gave him the mastery of the guitar. Johnson, in exchange, gave him his soul.
This is meant to explain how Johnson reappeared after a year's absence from the blues scene with a completely new and revolutionary style, and laid down all of his known songs in two recording sessions.
The Robert Johnson mythologising is propelled further by the fact that there are only two known photographs of him in existence. A third, as yet unverified, photo has allegedly been found in a garage sale and was for sale on eBay a couple of years ago at an asking price of $750,000USD. I believe it didn't sell.
Even in death, Johnson was a mystery - with some claiming that he was poisoned by a jealous husband who laced his whisky with strychnine, a claim disputed by a recent biography. Perhaps, if the legend is to be believed, the devil came calling on his debt.
Listen to the music this man made and any concerns about his life disappear. It's chills-down-the-spine stuff, which has kept me captivated for the better part of two decades. Eric Clapton stated Johnson had "the most powerful cry that I think you can find in the human voice", and that initially he was frightened by him. Robert Plant spoke of "Robert Johnson, to whom we all owed our existence".
I don't imagine I will ever get sick of him.
Buy Robert Johnson's Complete Recordings.