Epoch-marking, breakthrough Mississippi Delta blues that would become the definition of what-we-do for the late 1960s and early '70s rock guitarists from Keith to Eric by way of Muddy Waters. Johnson played "live to the mic" with only one acoustic guitar, on 1930s recording equipment. And his one guitar filled the aural space of an army of guitars, in the cut below anticipating the solid body electrics such as Fender Stratocaster. Riveting.
"An army of guitars," indeed. I think it was Eric Clapton (or maybe Keef) who asked, the first time he heard an RJ recording, "Who's playing with him?" I've twice stood in the same place that Robert Johnson did, and I feel privileged to have done so.
ReplyDeleteI heard Keith discussing playing second guitar, listing the players he'd like to play behind. He had no desire, he said with a smirk, to play second guitar to Robert Johnson.
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