Huh, there is
another Robert Johnson that played the blues! He lived until 1952 at least.
He had a very different life. He not only was not poisoned for hitting on someone's wife, he had four daughters and eventually gave up "the devil's music."
From the George Mitchell Collection
Recorded in Skene, Mississippi, July 2, 1969 by George Mitchell; Norma, Dorothy and Shirley Johnson, vocals; Robert Johnson, guitar
Born December 5th, 1916, in Crowley, Louisiana, Robert Johnson came with his family to the Delta when he was three. Settling East of Cleveland, Johnson's mother worked as a maid while his father farmed. Like many Mississippi blacks of the era, Johnson's father eventually moved north to Chicago, while his family stayed in the South. Johnson learned the guitar when he was eight, taught by one of his uncles. As a teenager, Johnson played local dances for both blacks and whites, playing two-steps and waltzes: "before boogie woogie," as Johnson said to George Mitchell. "Blues hadn't reached us yet," he told Mitchell. "I imagine it was in other places, but when it got here, we taked hold." Johnson started out playing pieces like "Pine Top Blues" and "Broke and Hungry Blues," but eventually gave up blues for the church in 1927. "You know that not the way of the Lord, if you're going play blues. You just out on your own. The Lord can't get no glory out of you when you play blues." Johnson spent the next several years bouncing between the church and the blues, before finally giving up "the devil's music" entirely in 1952. When Mitchell met him, he was living in a small Delta settlement called Skene, outside of Cleveland, working the fields of the huge Circle H plantation, and maintaining a home with his wife and eight kids, all of whom sang gospel. When asked about the future, Johnson told George Mitchell that he'd like his daughters to get a "good, decent" job so they wouldn't have to do field work, while Johnson himself looked forward to buying his own house and plot of land near Cleveland. ~ Sam Sweet (from the liner notes)
