A seminal figure in the history of the Delta blues, Robert Johnson (1911-1938) synthesized the music of Delta blues pioneers such as Son House with outside traditions and in turn influenced artists such as Muddy Waters and Elmore James. His compositions, notable for their poetic qualities, include “Sweet Home Chicago” and “Dust My Broom.” Although he recorded only twenty nine songs at two recording sessions in 1936 and 1937, his work entered the repertoires of countless blues and rock musicians, and songs including “I Believe I’ll Dust My Broom,” “Cross Road Blues,” “Love in Vain Blues,” “Traveling Riverside Blues,” and “Sweet Home Chicago” became widely known through later recordings by Elmore James, Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and many others. Born in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, Johnson was living near Robinsonville by 1920, took up the guitar in the late 1920s, learned from Willie Brown, Charley Patton, and Son House, and by 1931 had returned to the Hazlehurst area and begun studying with Ike Zinnerman, regarded by scholars as the most important influence on his revolutionary, modern style. From 1933 on, he traveled around the Delta and to places including Memphis, St. Louis, Chicago, Detroit, New York, and Canada, moving from one jook to another and for a time having a home in Helena, Arkansas. In late 1938, John Hammond planned to present him at the “From Spirituals to Swing” concert at Carnegie Hall, but Johnson died before the event, allegedly poisoned by the angry husband of a woman he was seeing. He died on Star of the West plantation just south of this site on August 16 and was buried here the following day; he is thought to be buried in this graveyard. His mysterious life and early death, along with the enduring story that he sold his soul at a rural crossroads in exchange for extraordinary guitar-playing ability, continued to fascinate modern fans, and songs such as “Hell-Hound on My Trail” and “Me and the Devil Blues” helped perpetuate that legend.
