You're welcome LCL. I stumbled across the story at the iorr.org site and thought some of you all would be interested.
FWIW, I've got a friend who claims his uncle had another Johnson photo. It was passed down from my friend's grandfather, who helped Moses Asch start up Folkways Records and was as an ethnomusicologist. The family is supposedly working on getting it authenticated and copyrighted.
It's cool when time-capsule items like these show up.
This is interesting. An author buddy wrote "Moaning at Midnight" about Howlin Wolf... and was also researching Robert Johnson -- even had a copy of his death certificate -- but as far as I know, he did not write a book about Johnson. I was at Jazz Fest the same year that he was doing research in NOLA, and I tagged along to after-hours church basement jam sessions...didn't take a camera but I should have.
I'm looking forward to reading her book. It will be nice to get another perspective from a family member.
Years ago, I spent one summer afternoon visiting historic Blues sites in the North Mississippi Delta. In one afternoon I saw Muddy Waters boyhood home (a log-cabin shack on Stovall's Plantation outside of Clarksdale, that would be moved just a year after I visited it to the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale), Sonny Boy Williamson II's (aka Rice Miller) gravesite, the plantation that Howlin' Wolf grew up on, Charlie Patton's gravesite, and B.B. King's handprints in the cement in his hometown of Indianola. Late in the day I made it to the outskirts of Itta Bena (where Jerry Rice played college football), to look for the three gravesites that compete for the claim of Robert Johnson's final resting place. I found 2 of 3, but it was getting dark, and it felt a little weird being a long-haired kid driving a '58 VW microbus around as the sun was going down on the Delta, so I beat it out of there.
"In 1978 I was playing guitar in Muddy Waters’ band at Paul’s Mall, a great club in Boston. Before the show started, I was sitting at a table with a friend who pointed out there was a woman sitting back-to-the-wall with her arms crossed over her purse. I said, “I bet there’s a story to that…” After the first set the woman approached me and asked me if I could bring her backstage to meet Muddy. She said, “I’m Robert Johnson’s sister and I have photos of him. I want to see if Muddy knew him in Mississippi.” After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I brought her right back to Muddy, who couldn’t wait to see the photos. They were indeed the two famous ones. I don’t recall her saying she had more. It was indeed Annye Anderson. I didn’t imagine she could be alive in 2020."
"Muddy looked at the one with Robert making a chord on a guitar and said, “Look, he has frog fingers!” — a little webbing between the bottoms of his fingers. Muddy said he loved Robert’s music, he always cited Robert and Son House as his main influences. But Muddy said he had not seen Robert in Mississippi, he had tried to go to a show but there were too many people to get in, so he only knew Robert from records. Muddy was thrilled and enthralled by Robert’s images, exactly as all Blues fans are. In Muddy’s 1983 obituary in Rolling Stone, ultimate music writer Peter Guralnick described that moment as his favorite with Muddy — a rare one where Muddy was a Blues fan, even as he was a legend himself."
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Philzone Refugee
His little sister had it all
His little sister had it all these years. She's 97 now and releasing a memoir about her brother. It's only the third known photo of him to emerge.
https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2020/05/exclusive-first-look-at-new-pho...
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: ImusDeadCo
Looks like Terrell Owens.
Looks like Terrell Owens.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Localcountyline
Dave, you come up with some
Dave, you come up with some crazy shit that oftentimes I probably wouldn't have otherwise seen.
Thank you.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Philzone Refugee
You're welcome LCL. I
You're welcome LCL. I stumbled across the story at the iorr.org site and thought some of you all would be interested.
FWIW, I've got a friend who claims his uncle had another Johnson photo. It was passed down from my friend's grandfather, who helped Moses Asch start up Folkways Records and was as an ethnomusicologist. The family is supposedly working on getting it authenticated and copyrighted.
It's cool when time-capsule items like these show up.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: MeditateontheQ
This is interesting. An
This is interesting. An author buddy wrote "Moaning at Midnight" about Howlin Wolf... and was also researching Robert Johnson -- even had a copy of his death certificate -- but as far as I know, he did not write a book about Johnson. I was at Jazz Fest the same year that he was doing research in NOLA, and I tagged along to after-hours church basement jam sessions...didn't take a camera but I should have.
Glad Robert's family will benefit from this book.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Philzone Refugee
I'm looking forward to
I'm looking forward to reading her book. It will be nice to get another perspective from a family member.
Years ago, I spent one summer afternoon visiting historic Blues sites in the North Mississippi Delta. In one afternoon I saw Muddy Waters boyhood home (a log-cabin shack on Stovall's Plantation outside of Clarksdale, that would be moved just a year after I visited it to the Delta Blues Museum in Clarksdale), Sonny Boy Williamson II's (aka Rice Miller) gravesite, the plantation that Howlin' Wolf grew up on, Charlie Patton's gravesite, and B.B. King's handprints in the cement in his hometown of Indianola. Late in the day I made it to the outskirts of Itta Bena (where Jerry Rice played college football), to look for the three gravesites that compete for the claim of Robert Johnson's final resting place. I found 2 of 3, but it was getting dark, and it felt a little weird being a long-haired kid driving a '58 VW microbus around as the sun was going down on the Delta, so I beat it out of there.
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: MeditateontheQ
Great travel memory! Pics of
Great travel memory! Pics of the '58 microbus or it didn't happen!
Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: Philzone Refugee
From Bob Margolin:
"In 1978 I was playing guitar in Muddy Waters’ band at Paul’s Mall, a great club in Boston. Before the show started, I was sitting at a table with a friend who pointed out there was a woman sitting back-to-the-wall with her arms crossed over her purse. I said, “I bet there’s a story to that…” After the first set the woman approached me and asked me if I could bring her backstage to meet Muddy. She said, “I’m Robert Johnson’s sister and I have photos of him. I want to see if Muddy knew him in Mississippi.” After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I brought her right back to Muddy, who couldn’t wait to see the photos. They were indeed the two famous ones. I don’t recall her saying she had more. It was indeed Annye Anderson. I didn’t imagine she could be alive in 2020."
"Muddy looked at the one with Robert making a chord on a guitar and said, “Look, he has frog fingers!” — a little webbing between the bottoms of his fingers. Muddy said he loved Robert’s music, he always cited Robert and Son House as his main influences. But Muddy said he had not seen Robert in Mississippi, he had tried to go to a show but there were too many people to get in, so he only knew Robert from records. Muddy was thrilled and enthralled by Robert’s images, exactly as all Blues fans are. In Muddy’s 1983 obituary in Rolling Stone, ultimate music writer Peter Guralnick described that moment as his favorite with Muddy — a rare one where Muddy was a Blues fan, even as he was a legend himself."
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Top of Page Bottom of Page PermalinkFull Name: long live the dead
Thank you
Thank you