Peter Guralnick, Searching for Robert Johnson (1989)

Peter Guralnick's book, Searching for Robert Johnson (1989), documents his own search not only for legendary Blues guitarist Robert Johnson, but also a context for his work and life--the Depression South, the Crossroads of America. Drawing on oral history interviews and critical readings of Johnson's few surviving recordings, Guralnick reconstructs this context and the man who was behind the myth. In doing so, he provides an introduction to the place of The Blues in American popular culture.


Questions to Think About:

1) How did Guralnick search for Robert Johnson? What did he hope to find when he found him? What did he in fact find? Is the man bigger or smaller than the myth?

2) Trace the origins of the Blues. How does it represent an example of syncretism in American culture?

3) What are the borders that exist in Robert Johnson's world? What are the borders that exist in Peter Guralnick's world? To what do you attribute the differences and similarities between them?

4) What have been the effects of the emergence of Blues music on American popular music? Can you identify any echoes of that music in popular music today? How have Blues "outsiders"--people not of African origins, not from the Mississippi Delta, or not shaped by the historical experience of the early twentieth century--made the Blues their own?
Further resources and readings:
Lyrics for "Crossroad Blues" and Others, as well as discussion questions for Robert Johnson's music.

The University of Virginia's Robert Johnson Notebooks provides a wealth of information, including the words to his songs, discographies, biography, and critical essays about Johnson and his work.

Blue Flame's Encyclopedia of the Blues Website's Robert Johnson Section.

Recordings by Robert Johnson:

Robert Johnson, The Complete Recordings (Columbia/Legacy 64916).
The complete works (except for alternate take of Traveling Riverside Blues, which is only on King of the Delta Blues Singers, below), including alternate takes.

Robert Johnson, King of the Delta Blues (Columbia/Legacy 65211).
Sixteen tracks; more listenable for the average person.

Robert Johnson, King of the Delta Blues Singers (Columbia/Legacy 65746).
CD-version of 1961 LP which cemented Johnson's reputation with modern audiences, and includes a recently-discovered alternate take of Traveling Riverside Blues which does not appear on The Complete Recordings.

MP3 files for Robert Johnson recordings: Preaching Blues; Terraplane Blues; Walking Blues.

RealAudio streaming files for Robert Johnson recordings: Kindhearted Woman; 32-20 Blues.

RealAudio download files for Robert Johnson recordings: Kindhearted Woman; 32-20 Blues.

Prepared by Professor Catherine Lavender for Honors 502 (American Frontiers and Borderlands), Department of History, The College of Staten Island of The City University of New York. Send email to lavender@postbox.csi.cuny.edu
Last modified: Saturday, 19 August 2000.