The truth behind #RobertJohnson's death: One month prior his death, he had been diagnosed with ulcer by a Memphis doctor and was also suffering from esophageal varicose which caused the chest pains he experienced and complained for. Son house warned multiple times RJ on his

Many people falsely stated that #RobertJohnson had a 7th string in his 6-string guitar. Practically impossible! What he did though was to tune his top string, not to another Eb (the tonic) but, to the 7th harmonic...this is why we were getting the feeling of a "7th string"...

November 23, 26 & 27 1936, #RobertJohnson recorded 16 of 29 songs at Gunter Hotel room 414, San Antonio. Don Law booked 2 adjoining rooms in the hotel, one for equipment & one for the musicians. 23rd night RJ got in trouble & landed in Bexar County Jail until Don bailed him out

Charley Patton believed to be the prototypical early bluesman but he had to wait until 1929 and then had, in common with Ma Rainey, the misfortune to record for Paramount, a company whose inferior acoustic recording technique distances him from us today, making him sound like a

An amazing infographic by Ted Gioia about the incredible range of #RobertJohnson's influence...

#RobertJohnson was in love with Virgie Jane Smith (pic). Her family didn't want someone who played the devil music. Virgie was pregnant in RJ's son Claud (pic). RJ then married the much older Callie Craft. He tried to take also Virgie & unborn Claud with him but with no

32-20 is the first Rock n' Roll tune ever... In the first verse #RobertJohnson, recording in a hotel room in San Antonio, Texas, remembered to change Skip James line to a more local setting... "All the doctors in Hot Springs sure can't help her none" But in repeating the verse

What probably affected the most #RobertJohnson 's life was the death of his beloved young wife Virginia. They were so eager to get married that Robert & Virginia Travis lied on their marriage record; he claimed he was 21 & Virginia that she was 18 while he was only 17 & she was

Ramblin' on My Mind stands out as a unique piece cause of it's unusual open tuning. #RobertJohnson developed a tuning that was never used by any other guitarist. Computer analysis confirmed guitarist Rory's Block assumption on tuning (from low E to high E) C-F-C-A-C-F

#RobertJohnson’s playing style aka "The Robert Johnson Progression" was complex & hard to pin down & included the following: An insistent bass in quarters & shuffle-eighths Up-the-neck chords Chromatic movement Melodic fills in between vocal phrases Classic turnaround figures

Were #RobertJohnson's recordings sped up? The claim was first made in 2004 & reappeared in 2010 in an article published by the @guardiannewspaper UK. Well, Elijah Wald wrote an insightful article on the subject which clarifies the issue... elijahwald.com/johnsonspeed.h…

Clarifications on #RobertJohnson 's guitars: In the photo taken with his suit RJ holds a Gibson L-1 and in the 2nd photo, he holds a Kalamazoo KG-14 which he bought when the house which he & Johnny Shines were staying in West Memphis got burned along with their guitars

#RobertJohnson has developed a style of finger-picking that mimicked the separate right & left hand functions heard in blues piano, so he didn’t need the support of another guitar player & RJ figured he could make more money as a solo artist...

In June 2011, the 1st Presbyterian Church of Dallas bought 508 Park Avenue, the building where, in 1937, #RobertJohnson recorded 13 songs. The church purchased the dilapidated 3-story Art Deco building after its previous owner tried to have it demolished cause it was

The 1930s recordings of #RobertJohnson represent the final flowering of the #Delta #blues. However, the old Delta blues style didn’t really die out; it emerged in a rein­ vigorated, electronically amplified form. #MuddyWaters’s career exemplifies these developments...

#RobertJohnson and Skip James, used some vocal embellishment, and scale tones were used with some flexibility within the phrase, but the usual melodic movement was in intervals of a third or a fourth, and the tones were clearly focused. It was generally in the blues with a field

The original recordings began to spread #RobertJohnson's influence in 1990 when Columbia's release of the CD box set sold 325.000 copies within 6 months, peaking at No 80 on the pop charts. By 1994, Billboard Magazine certified the set "Platinum" for selling 500.000 copies!!!

When Vocalion Label released “Hellhound on my Trail” they didn't expect it would become #RobertJohnson ’s signature song. NPR (National Public Radio) named it one of the 100 most influential songs of 20th Century American music & induct it into the #Blues Foundation Hall of

In "Kind Hearted Woman" #RobertJohnson wanted an instrumental break after 1st verse. As he was inexperienced, he forgot the limit of 3 mins/song. In 2nd take, he solved it by dropping the instrumental & picking up the tempo which helped him finish on time... Another story related

Clack Grocery Store at Clack cotton-farming community in Desoto County Mississippi. This grocery shop served a dual purpose: to provide food & to be a major meeting place for Saturday nights jukers. By late 1928 this was a regular place for #RobertJohnson to perform...