Blind Willie Johnson: 1897 - 1945

Generally referred to as a guitar-playing evangelist, Blind Willie Johnson was one of the greatest bottleneck guitarists ever. His powerful, coarse-throated vocals convey an intensity and eeriness that has to be heard to be believed. Though his career was brief, he recorded a body of haunting gospel blues masterpieces that have been covered continuously by blues and rock musicians alike.  His recording of “Dark Was the Night (Cold Was the Ground)” was placed on the 1977 Voyager 1 as an example of “Sounds of Earth,” should it be intercepted by alien life forms.

Details of Johnson’s life are shrouded in mystery and not a lot can be verified. He was born some time in 1897 near Brenham, Texas. Willie was drawn to the prospect of being a preacher at a very early age, yet music was also a strong attraction and his first guitar was improvised from a cigar box. Johnson’s real mother died when he was a child. The story goes that his stepmother blinded Willie at about seven years old by throwing lye in his face during a fight with his father.

Despite this hardship, Johnson managed to teach himself to play guitar. His father would take him into the town of Hearne and leave him on a street corner to play music with a tin cup tied around his neck. He followed his early religious leanings and became a Baptist preacher and in 1927(?) was married to a young singer named Willie B. Harris . They moved to Dallas and began performing together with Miss Harris singing background soprano. In December of that year Johnson began the first of four recording sessions for Columbia Records. (earlier records list his second wife Angeline as background singer on these recordings, but this has since been proven false)

Over the next three years Johnson recorded 30 songs that would serve as the template for gospel blues. He sided with sacred music and never recorded a secular song, yet what one hears is blues phrasing inflamed with religious imagery. His slide guitar playing was masterful with flawless fret strength and agility, originally using a pocket knife to mimic his voice. And what a voice - a passionate, spooky growl referred to as a “gruff false bass” that commanded immediate attention (he seldom sang in his natural tenor). Johnson became known for such contributions as “Motherless Children Have a Hard Time,” “If I Had My Way,” “John the Revelator,” “Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed,” and “Dark Was the Night.” His songs have been covered by the likes of Ry Cooder, Eric Clapton, Taj Mahal, and Bob Dylan, to name a few.

Johnson didn’t record after 1930, though he did continue performing into the 1940s, working the people on street corners, in churches, at train stations. In 1945 a fire burned his house to the ground. He continued sleeping in the ruins, became sick from exposure, and died of pneumonia. By Tim Kirker

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