GREENWOOD

In my opinion, this tombstone, north of Greenwood, is the most

likely of Johnson's multiple burial sites to  mark his actual grave.

According to Blues Traveling author, Steve Cheseborough,

this is the site of a house in which Johnson rented a room at the

time of his death, not the location of his death or his last performance.

A photograph of this old radio station north of Greenwood appears in the pages of Bill Wymans book, Blues Odyssey.

This church, west of Greenwood at the intersection of US 49 & US 82, occupies the site of the former

"Three Forks Juke," location of Johnson's final performance and, supposedly, his poisoning.

An abandoned old house down the road from Johnson's grave.

These buildings date back to the old days of Greenwood. Above, the headquarters of Viking Stove Corp. and below, an attorney's office

Robert L. Johnson

Robert Johnson was born May 8, 1911, in Hazlehurst, Mississippi, to Julia Dodds and Noah Johnson. After living a short while in Memphis, TN, he spent most of his younger years living in Robinsonville, MS, on the Abbay & Leatherman Plantation. As a youngster, he fooled around with the harmonica some, but didn't take up the guitar until the late 1920s when he was influenced to do so by Son House and Willie Brown who regarded him at that time as somewhat of a pest. Son House stated, "We'd all play for the Saturday night balls, and there'd be this little boy hanging around. That was Robert Johnson. He blew a harmonica then, and he was pretty good at that, but he wanted to play a guitar. He'd sit at our feet and play during the breaks and such another racket you'd never heard." Son scolded him, "Don't do that, Robert. You drive people nuts. You can't play nothin'."

Johnson  married Virginia Travis in Penton, Mississippi, in February 1929. He lost both his sixteen-year-old wife and baby in childbirth in April of 1930. He returned to Hazlehurst where he studied blues guitar under Ike Zinnerman. Zinnerman was evidently accomplished on the instrument, but he was never recorded. Not much is known of him other than that he was born in Grady, AL and that he told his wife that he learned guitar by practicing sitting on tombstones at night in the graveyard.

Also while in Hazlehurst, Johnson met Calletta "Callie" Craft, ten years his senior and mother of three small children. They were married at the Copiah County courthouse in May 1931. Once he thought he was ready to begin his life as a bluesman, he packed up Callie and the kids and traveled to the delta. Callie, however was not a strong, healthy woman. She became ill in Clarksdale and called for her family to come get her and take her back to Hazlehurst. Robert, evidently, had deserted her. Neither she nor her family ever saw Johnson again and Callie died a few years later.

Robert returned to Robinsonville where he encountered Willie Brown and Son House. He astounded the bluesmen with his improved abilities. Son House said, "When he finished all our mouths were standing open. I said, 'Well, ain't that fast! He's gone now!'"  This quick, unexpected improvement of ability gave rise to the idea that he had made a pact with the devil, a myth that Johnson was quick to exploit.

He spent some time in Helena, AR, a wide open gambling and drinking town and a hotbed of blues performers in those days. There he met most of the well-known bluesmen of the day and influenced most of them. He didn't stay in any one place for very long, however. It seems that traveling was an end unto itself for him. He was always ready to go anywhere.

By the mid-'30s, he had been a professional bluesman for quite a number of years. He contacted H.C. Spiers in Jackson, MS. Spiers had a record store and a small recording studio. He was also somewhat of a talent scout and quite a number of musicians had recorded for Paramount on his recommendation. He had just entered into an agreement with American Record Company, and after Johnson auditioned with him, he put him in touch with Ernie Oertle of that company. Oertle decided that Johnson would record in San Antonio. In November 1936, Johnson recorded a number of tunes, including "Terraplane Blues" which probably got the most radio play during his lifetime. He returned to record more tunes in June of 1937. In all, he recorded 29 tunes, some with more than one take.  

In the company of Johnny Shines, and alone, Johnson traveled and played the rest of '37 and into '38. He played in Memphis, Chicago, Decatur, IL, St. Louis, and Detroit. He traveled to the east coast playing mostly in New York and New Jersey and returned to the delta through St. Louis and Memphis.

In July of 1938, he played outside of Greenwood, MS in Three Forks at the junction of US 49 and US 82. He had been spending time with the wife of the juke's owner and it is thought that man, in his jealousy, gave Johnson some poisoned whiskey. Johnson became quite ill and was taken to the boarding house in which he had a room. Later he was taken to a home on the Star of the West Plantation where he could receive better care. He survived the poison, but in his weakened condition succumbed to pneumonia and died on Tuesday, August 16, 1938.

Music: Robert Johnson, Crossroads Blues (alternate take)