Robert Johnson was a blues singer and musician whose work influenced future generations of music despite his limited commercial success. Johnson was born in Hazlehurst, Michigan in 1911, and his life was so poorly documented that his 27 year lifespan has spawned several Faustian legends. Between the years 1932 and 1938, he traveled frequently between Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas and the surrounding areas, playing music in various juke-joints and Saturday night dances. He would stay with distant relatives of his large extended family or with women, some he occasionally visited and others new acquaintances. Johnson was known for using different names in the different places he stayed in and would share little information with the people who housed him, leading biographers to believe that he was an exceptionally shy man with a dedication to life on the road . He held a recording session with H.C. Speir in 1936 in San Santonio, during which he recorded "Come On In My Kitchen," and "Crossroad Blues." The following year, Johnson held another session in Dallas from which 11 records were released within the year. He died in 1938 in Greenwood, Michigan of unknown reasons, though many theories and accounts have been recorded and confirm an involvement with strychnine poisoning. His music finally reached a wide audience when it was reissued in 1961, and he is now considered the master of the blues.The mystery surrounding his life and death remains unsolved, but his legacy as the father of the blues lives on through the generations of musicians he inspired.
