Born in 1911 in southern Mississippi, Robert Johnson grew up in the heart in the heart of the Delta, where the local musicians he listened to and emulated included Charlie Patton, Willie Brown and Son House. Beginning in 1936, the guitarist recorded extraordinary body of work he is known for as a series of hotel-room sessions in Texas. His wounded-hound dog slide licks, percussive string snapping, driving “walking patterns, intricate counterpoint bass lines, ostinato riffs and chording set the standards for blues guitar playing.

Robert Johnson Singer and Blues Guitarist

Years later, Johnson baffled British Invasion guitar heroes like Keith Richards and Eric Clapton, who originally thought there must have been a second—and maybe a third—guitarist on his solo recordings.

Almost as seductive as Johnson’s playing is the harrowing supernatural myth—full of hoodoo hexes and a supposed deal with the devil—that surrounds his life. “Hello Satan, I believe it’s time to go,” he sang in “Me and the Devil Blues,” and the assertion is still chillingly, utterly believable, Johnson eventually died from poison, said to have been administered by a jealous husband. The singer-guitarist was only 27 years old.