How The Man Who Gave Us All The Blues Created A Cultural Industry

It all began almost 100 years ago!

If you trace whatever style of popular modern music you hear or listen to, all the way back to its roots, you will end up at the name of one man. This was a man who lived far too short a life, but a man who left a legacy that reverberated, and continues to do so, throughout the last almost 100 years.

Born in 1911 (or possibly 1912) Robert Leroy Johnson lead the life of a travelling musical performer and on his way around the Mississipi Delta almost single handedly set the template for the blues and good ol’ Rock n Roll, to name but two styles heavily influenced by Johnson.

I say almost single handedly because at the start of his interest in playing the guitar, Robert Johnson sought out another historically neglected man called Ike Zimmerman. Like Robert, Ike was a dedicated musician and had a great deal to do with Johnson’s development as a musician and songwriter.

Born in 1907, Ike Zimmerman was a little older than Robert and took the ambitious youngster under his wing not only as a guitar teacher, but maybe also as something of an elder brother or father figure. Zimmerman took Johnson into his home where he lived for one or two years. During that time the eager to learn student came on in leaps and bounds, no doubt as a result of long periods of practice with a master musician.