Robert Johnson Stamp

**This Robert Johnson stamp is a part of the set from the jazz and blues singers Legends of American Music series. Make sure to check out my hub page for this project. 

It is impossible to overstate the importance of Black musicians to American and world music. One reason why the Legends series by the USPS is so important is because it features so many Black musicians. For example, this blog has articles about music legends including W.C. Handy, Louis Armstrong, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and many others.

One of the truly iconic Black musicians in American music was Robert Johnson. He was a mysterious figure whose life has become a true American myth that lies at the heart of the creation of the Blues. Johnson’s few recordings are seminal for American music and have inspired generations of subsequent musicians.

Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson was born in Hazlehurst, Mississippi in May of 1911. He was one of ten children and his father was fairly prosperous as a landowner. However, a lynch mob forced the family to leave. Johnson instead largely grew up in Memphis, where he was able to hear and fall in love with the blues. Johnson went to school in Memphis and later at Tunica’s Indian Creek School near Tunica, Mississippi. Friends would later remember that he was already proficient on the harmonica and jaw harp.

In 1929 he married sixteen-year-old Virginia Travis, but she died shortly thereafter during child birth. After that, Johnson went to Martinsville, Mississippi, where he spent time perfecting his guitar playing, studying with Isaiah “Ike” Zimmerman.

Johnson remarried in 1931 and they couple settled in the town of Clarksdale, Mississippi. However, Johnson soon left his new bride to pursue the life of a wandering musician traveling up and down the Mississippi Delta playing The Blues. His music also took him to Chicago, Texas, and New York. Johnson died in 1938 when he was 27 years old.

Recordings

The fame of Johnson lies mostly in his surviving recordings from two sessions in 1936 and 1937. In November of 1936, Johnson went to San Antonio and in a room in the Gunter Hotel he recorded sixteen songs, including multiple takes for most. The first 78 to come out was the song “Terraplane Blues,” with the song “Last Fair Deal Gone Done,” on the flip side. This sold nearly ten thousand copies, a relative success for an unknown Blues guitar player.

The very next year, Johnson went back to Texas, and on June 19 and 20th recorded thirteen more songs in the Warner Brothers Studio in Dallas. Once again, he did several takes of many of these songs, and all of these alternate versions survive. Not all of these performances survive, but forty-two do.

In 1938, John Hammond, a record producer and music scout, went on a search for Johnson in order to invite him to perform at Carnegie Hall for a concert titled From Spirituals to Swing. After learning of his death, Hammond played two of the recorded songs on the stage. He also invited Big Bill Broonzy to play in Johnson’s place. Since then, many of Johnson’s performances have been released and re-released multiple times.

Legacy

Many of Johnson’s songs have become standards including “Dust My Broom,” Cross Road Blues,” “Kind Hearted Woman,” and many others. Through the recordings, many players learned these songs and copied them as well as his unusual guitar technique. Johnson was known for a driving bass beat on his guitar, instead of on the piano (which is more of a percussive instrument). In this way, he revolutionized blues guitar playing. Blues musicians themselves covered his music and copied his playing style. Then, came rock and roll. Many of rock’s greatest legends point to Johnson as an important influence including Bob Dylan, Robert Plant, Keith Richards, and Eric Clapton have

“The Crossroads”

There are several reasons why Robert Johnson has become not just a legendary musician, but a nearly mythical musician within the American pantheon. The first involves his learning the guitar in a relatively short period of time as an adult. Many who knew him thought that he was a rather poor guitar player. This includes the Blues legend Son House who met Robert Johnson in Robinsonville, Mississippi. House thought Johnson was a goo harmonica player, but not good on the guitar at all.

However, once Johnson went to Martinsville, he became a good guitar player in a relatively short time. His teacher, Isaiah “Ike” Zimmerman, himself was said to have supernatural abilities. Rumors said that Zimmerman used to go to graveyards at night to learn to play from the spirits of the dead.

According to Blues legend, when Johnson was studying in Martinsville, he was told that if he wanted to become a great musician he should take his guitar down to a crossroads near Dockery Plantation at midnight. It is said that there, Johnson met the Devil who took his guitar and tuned it. He gave it back once Johnson agreed to trade his soul for mastery of the guitar. Many in the Blues community believed the story, as how else would Johnson learn to play so well so quickly. It became a part of American music lore and all kinds of songs have referenced the crossroads ever since.

Mysterious Death

Yet, that was not the only mysterious part about Robert Johnson’s life. There is also a great mystery surrounding his death at the age of 27. His death took place on August 16, of 1938 near Greenwood, Mississippi, but it is unknown how he died. He essentially disappeared. It would take thirty years for a scholar to chase down his death certificate. Even then, there was no cause of death on it. The mystery allowed for all kinds of local speculation including that Johnson was poisoned. It is now largely thought that he had congenital syphillis.

Finally, it is not even known where Robert Johnson is buried. Dying with little or no money, Johnson was hastily buried without a marker. There are currently three possibilities in church cemeteries near Greenwood.

The Stamp

The design of the Robert Johnson stamp is by Julian Allen. The image on the stamp is a little cartoony, but shows a very serious Robert Johnson looking straight at the viewer. A portion of the fingerboard of his guitar is visible in the lower right corner along with a few of his fingers making a chord. Inspiration for the stamp came from a photo of Johnson taken around 1930 (see above). It is not an exact copy of this photograph, as the guitar is much closer to Johnson’s face and held more upright. Controversially, Johnson is depicted smoking in the photo, but on the stamp the cigarette was removed. This is because of a long running policy of the USPS not to show cigarettes on stamps.

The Robert Johnson stamp is one of eight stamps in the Blues and Jazz singers group of the Legends of American Series set. The eight stamps became available on September 17, 1994.

Here is one of Johnson’s legendary recordings: