The Bottom Line
Noted musical biographer Peter Guralnick's book-length essay on the mystery behind blues legend Robert Johnson does a great job of placing the importance and influence of his music in context while trying to reveal a little of the humanity behind the myth.
Pros
- Period photographs help take the reader to the South of the 1930s.
- Guralnick's typical deep research lends an air of authority to the essay.
Cons
- Too brief by half, it would have been better if Guralnick had slightly expanded on his theme.
- More quotes from the blues artists interviewed would have fleshed out the essay.
Description
- Softcover, 85 pages, B&W photos
- An entertaining mix of history and mythology
- Includes select discography of blues artists influenced by Johnson
Guide Review - Peter Guralnick - Searching For Robert Johnson (1998)
Music biographer Peter Guralnick is, perhaps, the best in his field at distilling the truth of his subject down to an accessible and entertaining read. The author of vital and essential bios on such giants as Elvis Presley and Sam Cooke, as well as in-depth tomes on the blues and R&B like Sweet Soul Music, with Searching For Robert Johnson Guralnick turns his eye towards the life and legend of bluesman Robert Johnson.
In this lengthy essay, Guralnick dissects the Johnson mythology with a combination of his typical in-depth, thoughtful research and the recollections of folks that knew Johnson like Johnny Shines, Henry Townsend, and David "Honeyboy" Edwards, culled from both the author's interviews and those by other blues historians. As a result, Searching For Robert Johnson is part biographical, part music history, and Guralnick does an excellent job of separating the man and the legend, putting his music in context in the process.
At the heart of Searching For Robert Johnson is the incredible, groundbreaking music created by the bluesman during a brief, fleeting career shrouded with rumor and half-remembered memories. Guralnick attempts, like so many before him, to explain the importance of the artist's songwriting and six-string skills, as preserved in the slightly more than two-dozen recordings created during Johnson's life, and why they resounded so loudly with British blues-rockers like the Rolling Stones, and others.
For blues fans that desire a greater understanding and insight into Robert Johnson's life and music, Guralnick's Searching For Robert Johnson is the place to start. With a passion born of the true believer, and the discipline of an accomplished journalist, Guralnick brings Johnson's story to life with this quick-reading, entertaining, and informative book. (Plume Books, published August 1998)
