Books (Englisch)
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24.49 €
Brother Robert : Growing Up with Robert Johnson
Robert Johnson - Book - by A. C. Anderson & P.Lauterbach
(2020)
Though
only 27-years-young and relatively unknown at the time of his tragic
death in 1938, Robert Johnson's enduring recordings have solidified his
status as a progenitor of the Delta Blues style. And yet, while his
music has retained the steadfast devotion of modern listeners, much
remains unknown about the man who penned and played these timeless
tunes. Few people alive today actually remember what Johnson was really
like, and those who do have largely upheld their silence-until now.In
Brother Robert, nonagenarian Annye Anderson sheds new light on a
real-life figure largely obscured by his own legend: her kind and
incredibly talented stepbrother, Robert Johnson.
This
book chronicles Johnson's unconventional path to stardom-from the
harrowing story behind his illegitimate birth, to his first strum of the
guitar on Anderson's father's knee, to the genre-defining recordings
that would one day secure his legacy. Along the way, readers are gifted
not only with Anderson's personal anecdotes, but with colorful
recollections passed down to Anderson by members of their family-the
people who knew Johnson best. Readers also learn about the contours of
his working life in Memphis, never-before-disclosed details about his
romantic history, and all of Johnson's favorite things, from foods and
entertainers to brands of tobacco and pomade.
Together,
these stories don't just bring the mythologized Johnson back down to
earth; they preserve both his memory and his integrity.For decades,
Anderson and her family have ignored the tall tales of Johnson 'selling
his soul to the devil' and the speculative to fictionalized accounts of
his life that passed for biography. Brother Robert is here to set the
record straight. Featuring a foreword by Elijah Wald and a Q&A with
Anderson, Lauterbach, Wald, and Peter Guralnick, this book paints a
vivid portrait of an elusive figure who forever changed the musical
landscape as we know it.