Robert Johnson

The story of Robert Johnson is well-known by the music community, as well as a lot of
savvy music lovers. But for those that don’t know the legend, here’s the brief. There’s
actually an old (1986) movie called Crossroads, starring of all people, Ralph Macchio -
the famous Karate Kid and ‘the’ cousin of his cousin, Vinnie. He’s on a quest to achieve
what Robert Johnson theoretically achieved when, and I’m quoting a lot of people here,
“...sometime in the 1930’s, Robert Johnson, an itinerant blues player from Mississippi,
had a late-night encounter at the crossroads with the devil — or with an African spirit-
being named Papa Legba — and sold his soul in return for a supreme talent as a
musician.”
You see, Robert had learned to play, but he didn’t know how to really play. I mean, you
don’t just play the blues... you have to really play the blues. You have to feel it, and you
have to make the people who listen to you understand your message. Sooo... the devil
(or Papa Legba) said “here ya go son, just sign this here contract, I’ll make you the
baddest damn blues player ever, and when the time comes, your sorry-ass soul gonna
belong to me”.
These days, we just tell our aspiring blues players to practice a lot. We don’t get a lot of
Robert Johnsons, but we save a lot of souls. And the truth is, we DO get some great
blues players. We celebrate as many as we can here on Southern Coast Radio. And if
there’s a few we missed, let us know. In fact let us know what you think of our radio
station in all regards. One thing you can do for us... tell your friends about “The Coast”.
SouthernCoastRadio.com

PS: Google the movie. Grab some popcorn.

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