While Willy Brown and his headstone is making headlines, there is a continual search to find physical evidence of the blues era’s men . There are no known photos of Willie, but it would make sense given the times, the vagabonding lifestyle these men lived and the likely chance anyone in the audience was carrying a Canon… that being said, the past few years have surprisingly brought to light 2 new photographs purported to be that of 27 Club founder, Robert Johnson.

The first was featured in the November 2008 issue of Vanity Fair magazine. An avid guitar collector, Zeke Schein, claims he now owns the third known photograph of Johnson, and that he bought it off of eBay.

The seller advertised the photo as that of a “young BB King” but Schein was convinced otherwise. $2200 had the item shipped and delivered. Upon closer scrutiny, Schein believed the man to the left of “Robert” to be, none other than that of Johnny Shines, well-known traveler and companion of Johnson during their heydays. The hands and facial features certainly suggest an affinity for Johnson’s own, but to date, the certainty is still less than 100%.

A second photo, eerily similar to the much heralded cigarette photo booth shot, came to light in early 2007 when the owner asked for a whopping $795,000 at opening auction. Crazy, right?!? Maybe not so when you figure this in… In the summer of 2006, what was dubbed, the “Holy Grail” of musical instruments popped up: the guitar said to be held by Robert Johnson in his infamous cross-legged portrait. For a mere $6 million, the guitar went up for grabs across the web. There was little proof other than some photo comparisons, but risk seems to be less important than an opportunity to own music history.

Whether or not these artifacts do in fact hold clues about the lives of Robert, Johnny, or even Willie does not really matter. The quest to authenticate Robert or Willie’s life will continue to enthuse and inspire music fans across the globe. And, who knows, maybe the ole’ thrift store down the road holds the proof of Willie’s mug, Robert’s additional threads or links in the chain to a history we can’t get enough of. Cheers!

“You can run, you can run, tell my friend boy Willie Brown”
With those words, rock’s grandfather and 27s archetype Robert Johnson immortalized bluesman Willie Brown in his prophetic “Cross Road Blues.” Cream (Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, and Jack Bruce), of course, brought the song into the rock canon with their version of the song.

While Willie Brown’s name is immortalized, his earthly remains rest in an unmarked grave in Tunica County, Mississippi. A group of blue fans, scholars, and musicians are in the process of raising $2,100 to get him a proper headstone at the Good Shepherd Church in Tunica. The Willie Brown Blues Benefit takes place September 26, 2010, in Tampa, Florida, and donations are collected there and through Paypal. Reminds us of Janis Joplin and the effort she was a part of with Juanita Green, which resulted in a permanent resting place for blues great Bessie Smith.

We commend Jason Rewald and the other fine folks at tdblues.com for this great cause and for their fantastic research, digging up census records, death certificates, and writing about Robert Johnson’s guitars, tunings, and much more. Keep it up!

Robert Johnson

Born: May 8, 1911, in Hazlehurst, Mississippi
Died: August 16, 1938, in Greenwood, Mississippi

Robert Johnson lived and died in relative obscurity. He was a rootless, restless, sly, street-smart, womanizing, whiskey-drinking hobo with a guitar and a gifted ability to pick up and synthesize the music he heard in juke joints and from records and radio. He played mills and barrooms and is only known to have recorded 29 tracks over two recording sessions, yet his music helped father rock & roll.

A 1961 release titled King of The Delta Blues Singers bore the painting of a faceless man hunched over his guitar—none of the two known photographs of Robert Johnson had surfaced (not until 1986 and 1989). Robert Johnson sounded primal, sang with lived passion about dark meetings at crossroads, love in vain and hellhounds on his trail, and died from poisoning under strange circumstances. Robert Johnson is an enigma and an amalgam elevated by white rockers to the pantheon as a mysterious folkloric hero. When alive, Robert Johnson was never the King of The Delta—just a talented minstrel—but his influence makes him the grandfather of rock.

An assorted collection of artists who have covered the songs of Robert Johnson include (in no particular order) The Rolling Stones, Canned Heat, Cream, the Blues Brothers Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ry Cooder, Eric Clapton, Cowboy Junkies, John Hammond, Peter Green, Cassandra Wilson, the Radiators, Fleetwood Mac, ZZ Top, Freddie King, Elmore James, Asylum Street Spankers, George Thorogood & the Destroyers, Keb ‘Mo’, Walter Trout Band, Lucinda Williams, Rocky Lawrence, Rory Block, Pyeng Threadgill, John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers, Chris Thomas King, the Jeff Healy Band, Pussy Galore, White Stripes, Foghat, Status Quo, Johnny Shines, Roy Rogers, Led Zeppelin, Muddy Waters, Bonnie Raitt, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Grateful Dead, and Widespread Panic.