A thorough examination of the truth and myth surrounding one of the greatest original blues performers in America.
Barry Lee Pearson is a professor of English and American studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, a noted blues scholar, and the author of three books, including Jook Right On: Blues Stories and Blues Storytellers. Bill McCulloch is a writer, freelance editor, and musician. He collaborated with Pearson on articles about thirty-six American blues artists for the American National Biography.
"[Pearson and McCulloch] traced the paper trail of the Johnson myth through the decades and found that white critics and promoters were telling tall tales about him while he was still alive. The authors tracked down misleading articles about him dating to 1937, and reconstructed the comical spread of Johnson's Faust legend - that he sold his soul to the devil at a Mississippi crossroads in return for his extraordinary gifts as a guitarist - from a single, dubious 1966 interview of Johnson's friend and fellow blues musician Son House." New York Times "By far the best book yet on Johnson." Dirty Linen "A reminder that Johnson's talent was enough; he didn't need the devil's help to become a legend." Library Journal
"[Pearson and McCulloch] traced the paper trail of the Johnson myth through the decades and found that white critics and promoters were telling tall tales about him while he was still alive. The authors tracked down misleading articles about him dating to 1937, and reconstructed the comical spread of Johnson's Faust legend - that he sold his soul to the devil at a Mississippi crossroads in return for his extraordinary gifts as a guitarist - from a single, dubious 1966 interview of Johnson's friend and fellow blues musician Son House." New York Times "By far the best book yet on Johnson." Dirty Linen "A reminder that Johnson's talent was enough; he didn't need the devil's help to become a legend." Library Journal
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