Tracking Robert Johnson

I missed Radiolab's short on Robert Johnson the first time around (2012), but caught a rerun today driving with the family, went around the block until it was over.  (link)

They got most of the story, but missed Johnny Shines, a bluesman who traveled with Robert Johnson (probably) from 1935 to 1937.  Here is an interview with him from 1989.  (link)

About 20 years ago I saw a documentary where the interviewer asked Shines if Johnson had ever told him the crossroads story.  I can't find it online, but Shines said:  "No, he never told me that lie."  He paused and then said (approximately):  "You can't sell your soul.  You are a soul."

But now that the marketers have it, the story will be with us forever.  Steve Berkowitz, a producer at Sony, told NPR in 2011 that the mythology was the “heart and soul of the marketing plan”. “We always knew the music was great. But a guy sells his soul to the devil at midnight down at the crossroads, comes back and plays the hell out of the guitar, and then he dies. I mean, it’s a spectacular story.”  (link)