Updated 20th September 2018 To us unbelievers, he was certainly NOT the devil. So, who really taught the blues guitar to Robert Johnson down at the crossroads? It wasn’t the devil, of course, but a certain Mr. Zimmerman. No, no, not Robert Zimmerman (Bob Dylan to us), but an African-American Mr. Zimmerman: Ike Zimmerman. I wonder if Bob knows…
Updated 31 May 2016 Robert Johnson, immaculately-dressed, like all bluesmen back then Robert Johnson was the unluckiest of blues performers. As with other giant talents, ranging from Vincent Van Gogh and Franz Kafka to Galileo and Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Johnson became revered only after his death. That he’s known at all is probably due to the appreciation of Johnson’s…
Updated 31 May 2016 Global underpants legend: David Beckham What does global underpants icon and ex-England soccer star, David Beckham, have in common with the mysterious 1930s Delta blues legend, Robert Johnson? Answer: London’s East End suburb of Leytonstone in the UK. To be more precise, Leytonstone was where David Beckham was born in 1975 and where…
Updated 31 May 2016 The latest statistics gathered by Prof. Dianna Kenny Researching my books ‘America’s Gift’ and ‘How Blues Evolved’, I naturally became aware of how many early blues musicians died well before their time. I was therefore surprised to read press reports of a new study claiming that old blues pioneers were far less likely…
Updated 1 June 2016. Seasick Steve Describing Oakland-born Californian Steve Wold as a national treasure in the UK might be over-egging the pudding a bit; but for many British rock and pop fans, the 74-year-old American guitarist is certainly a blues icon. Steve first sprang to prominence aged 65 on Jools Holland’s New Year’s Eve BBC TV rock music…
