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65th out of 127 books
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Searching for Robert Johnson: The Life and Legend of the "King of the Delta Blues Singers"
One of America's foremost music writers on the blues examines the life of the "King of the Delta Blues", and the myth that surrounds him
Robert Johnson, while probably the most influential of all blues guitarists, is also one of the most obscure. Recognized as an influence on musicians like Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones, Johnson was poisoned by a jealous hus
...morePaperback, 96 pages
Published
August 1st 1998
by Plume Books
(first published 1989)
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Conrad
marked it as to-read
I used to know this (white) ragtime guitarist who, in the 60s, had been one of those young blues fiends who ran around, finding half-dead and ignored folk musicians like Mississippi John Hurt, and giving them a few bucks to play in front of a recorder. By the time I met him, I was teaching a classroom full of black kids, and I wanted to do a lesson on Robert Johnson for Black History Month. My friend had been teaching and playing guitar for twenty-thirty years, so I asked him if it wasn't a litt...more
Peter Guralnick did the impossible and had the last word on Elvis with his essential Last Train to Memphis & Careless Love biographies; culling a life on which far too much information is available down to a vibrant, character-driven thousand or so pages. Here, he's done the opposite by taking a life about which we know almost nothing and stretching it out to 85 pages. But the same intimacy is there, as Guralnick's worked hard to form a coherent character from the scraps of history.
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First - I read this book in one night...in fact, it was probably in two hours. I don't mean to boast of my "incredible" reading speed, but this book ended up being an easy and short read. And that can't be a bad thing!
Although this wasn't a "joy read", but a read for a blues class I'm taking, I found "Searching for Robert Johnson" to be mostly enjoyable and slightly enlightening almost all of the time. Included were lots of interesting anecdotes and...more
Although this wasn't a "joy read", but a read for a blues class I'm taking, I found "Searching for Robert Johnson" to be mostly enjoyable and slightly enlightening almost all of the time. Included were lots of interesting anecdotes and...more
Not a book that terribly impressed me the first time around, which must've been 10 years ago, but after making an evening of it just now, I'm prepared to change my tune.
I think I was originally underwhelmed by Searching for Robert Johnson because I was expecting something more definitive and expansive, which I'll admit was ridiculous since it's an 85-page book with uncertainty embedded in its very title. Returning to it now, entirely as a result of rereading Greil Marcus' wonderful cha...more
I think I was originally underwhelmed by Searching for Robert Johnson because I was expecting something more definitive and expansive, which I'll admit was ridiculous since it's an 85-page book with uncertainty embedded in its very title. Returning to it now, entirely as a result of rereading Greil Marcus' wonderful cha...more
This very short book seems to tell all that is really known about Robert Johnson - which isn't a hell of a lot. Did he sell his soul to the devil in order to be able to play the guitar? He seems to have been rather shy, a womanizer and may have been murdered. His tunes have been expertly covered by the likes of the Rolling Stones and Cream, but, like many artists who die young, his legend will always be something of a mystery.
Very interesting book about a guy who (I think) was fascinating. Robert Johnson may or may not have sold his soul to the devil in order to play blues guitar like no one else; but he created the best of Delta Blues and played bass as well as melody at the same time, which many (including Keith Richards) say no one else has been able to do. Johnson's death - at the rocker's-death age of 27 was, and is, a tragedy. This book is not very well written but well worth reading for anyone with an interest...more
A poetic mythic quest to discover this great musician through the few clues he left behind… Brilliantly researched, short, beautiful and inspiring.
Well written and nicely researched book about Robert Johnson
This is a great, short book on a man who had a tremendous influence on music played and listened to today.
More hero worship than anything else
Miss Deed
marked it as to-read
Taylor
marked it as to-read
Lawrence
marked it as to-read
Emily
added it
TJ Beitelman
marked it as to-read
Leopardi
marked it as to-read
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Peter Guralnick is an American music critic, writer on music, and historian of US American popular music, who is also active as an author and screenwriter. He has been married for over 45 years to Alexandra. He has a son and daughter, Jacob and Nina.
Guralnick's first two books, Almost Grown (1964) and Mister Downchild (1967), were short story collections published by Larry Stark, whose...more
More about Peter Guralnick...
Guralnick's first two books, Almost Grown (1964) and Mister Downchild (1967), were short story collections published by Larry Stark, whose...more
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