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Hellhound on My Trail: The Life and Legend of Robert Johnson
Hellhound on My Trail The Life and Legend of Robert Johnson Author:Stephen Calt Robert Johnson was an early legend of blues music, an inspiration to the likes of Muddy Waters, B. B. King, and Willie Dixon. He died mysteriously, and nobody knows where his body is buried. The mythos that surrounds Johnson's life and death -- from the legend that he sold his soul to the devil to his reported poisoning at the hands of a jealous... more » lover -- has inspired artists and filmmakers the world over. But who was the real Robert Johnson? And how did an obscure guitarist and songwriter create a musical style that would emerge from the Depression-era Mississippi Delta to influence musicians to the present day? In Hellhound on My Trail, biographer Stephen Calt strips off the layers of history and myth to look at the man and his music. Using materials gathered from years of original research and hours of new interview materials, Calt explores the vibrant Delta blues culture that spawned Johnson and compares his work to that of his predecessors and contemporaries, isolating the innovations in style and technique he brought to his guitar playing and songwriting. Five years in the making, Hellhound on My Trail is an engaging and provocative biography that sheds new light on the man who created such blues classics as "Crossroads," "Traveling Riverside Blues," "Terraplane Blues," "Sweet Home Chicago," and "Love in Vain."« less