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Researched was used for this episode of Southern Oddities, and we couldn't have made it possible
without the journalism and dedication from these awesome sources of information:
Roadside America [Tip 26919] - American Blues Scene [Devils Crossroads Owning Pieve of Robert Johnson Legacy] - Roadtrippers [Clarksdake MS Devils Crossroads] - Atlas Obscura [Clarksdale Crossroads] - Wikipedia [Crossroads] - Wikipedia [Robert Johnson] - Wikipedia [Clarksdale, Mississippi]
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Episode Transcript
The South is full of history,tells of the strange creatures that defy logic,
outlaws who took towns and roadside curiositiesthat cause in tree. Grab your
sweet tea, gather around, andlet spin a yarn. Welcome to Southern
Odidies. Clarksdale is a city inMississippi and is located along the Sunflower River.
(00:29):
The city of Clarksdale is named afterJohn Clark, a settler who founded
the city in the mid nineteenth centurywhen he established a timber mill and business
in the Mississippi Delta region, Clarksdaleis an agricultural and trading center, and
many African American musicians developed the blueshere and took this original American music with
(00:54):
them to Chicago and other northern citiesduring the Great Migration. The Delta Blues
Museum is located in Clarksdale, aswell as a fistful of Mississippi Blues trail
markers designating Muddy Water's childhood home,the Riverside Hotel, and the Hobson Planning
(01:14):
Company, as well as commemorating famousClarksdale residents such as Big Jack Johnson,
Ike Turner, and Sam Cook.Museums, gift shops, restaurants, Duke
joints, and more all recognize Clarksdale'sdominant stature in the history of the blues,
and with that being said, TheBlues brings us to one of Clarksdale's
(01:38):
most famous stories, Robert Johnson andthe Devil's Crossroads, as according to local
legend, it's the spot where RobertJohnson made his deal with the devil to
play the blues like none other.In folklore, cross roads may represent a
location between the worlds and a nightwhere supernatural spirits can be contacted and paranormal
(02:04):
events can take place. Symbolically,it can mean a locale where two realms
touch, a place literally neither herenor there, betwixt and between. The
story of Robert Johnson's life, particularlyseparating fact from fiction, has filled volumes
of books. David Honeyboy Edwards,Henry Townsend, and Johnny Shines have all
(02:30):
told similar stories about Johnson, butthen again, each had their own memories
of his life, music, death, and famed deal with Old Scratch.
According to legend, as a youngman living on a plantation in Rule,
Mississippi, Johnson had a tremendous desireto become a great blues musician, One
(02:53):
of the legends often told says thatJohnson was instructed to take his guitar to
a cross road near Dockery Plantation atmidnight. There he was met by a
large black man, the devil,who took the guitar and tuned it.
The devil played a few songs andthen returned the guitar to Johnson, giving
(03:15):
him the mastery of the instrument.This story of a deal with the devil
at the crossroads mirrors the legend ofFaust, and in exchange for his soul,
Johnson was able to create the bluesfrom which he became famous. Some
believe the cross roads where Johnson metthe devil is a stone's throw south of
(03:38):
Rosedale, Mississippi. Some believe isthe spot in Clarksdale, while others pay
no mind to the legend, believingthat Johnson traveled to Arkansas, where he
learned his guitar proficiency from Isaiah IkeZimmerman, and coincidentally, Zimmerman is rumored
(03:58):
to have learned supernaturally to play theguitar by visiting graveyards at midnight. But
whatever the case, Johnson returned achanged man. This legend was developed over
time and has been chronicled by gelDeane, Wardlow, Edward Comber, and
Elijah Wald, who sees the legendas largely dating from Johnson's rediscovery by white
(04:24):
fans more than two decades after hisdeath. Further details were absorbed from the
imaginative retellings by Grill Marcus and RobertPalmer, but most significantly the detail was
added that Johnson received his gift froma large black man at the Crossroads.
(04:44):
There is a dispute as to howand when the crossroads detail was attached to
the Robert Johnson story. In all, the published evidence, including a full
chapter on the subject in the biographyCrossroads by Tom Graves, suggested origin in
the story of the blues musician TommyJohnson. This story was collected from his
(05:06):
musical associate Ishman Bracy and his elderbrother Ladele in the nineteen sixties. One
version of Ladelle Johnson's account was publishedin David Evans nineteen seventy one Biography of
Tommy Johnson, and was repeated inprint in nineteen eighty two alongside House's story
(05:27):
in the widely read Searching for RobertJohnson, and another version Ladell placed the
meeting not at a crossroads but ina graveyard, resembling the story told to
Steve Lavere that Ike Zimmerman of Hazelhurst, Mississippi, learned to play the guitar
at midnight while sitting on tombstones.Recent research, but the blues scholar Bruce
(05:51):
Conforth in Living Blues magazine, makesthe story clearer. Johnson and Ike Zimmerman
did practice in a graveyard at nightbecause it was quiet and no one would
disturb them, but it was notthe Hazelhurst Cemetery as had been believed.
Zimmerman was not from Hazelhurst, butnearby Beauregard, and he did not practice
(06:15):
in one graveyard, but in severalin the area, and Johnson spent about
a year living with and learning fromZimmerman, who ultimately accompanied Johnson back to
the Delta to look after him.And While Dockery, Hazelhurst, and Beauregard
have each been claimed as the locationsof the mythical crossroads, there are also
(06:38):
tourist attractions claiming to be the crossroadsin both Clarksdale and Memphis. Residents of
Rosedale, Mississippi, claimed Johnson soldhis soul to the devil at the intersections
of Highways one and eight in theirtown. The Blues historian Steve Chesi Road
(06:59):
wrote that it may be impossible todiscover the exact location of the mythical cross
roads because Robert Johnson was a ramblingguy. Some scholars have argued that the
devil in these songs may refer notonly to the Christian figure of Satan,
but also to the trickster god ofAfrican origin, Legva, who himself is
(07:23):
associated with cross roads. Folklorist HarryM. Hyatt wrote that during his research
in the South from nineteen thirty fiveto nineteen thirty nine, when African Americans
born in the nineteenth or early twentiethcentury said they or anyone else had sold
their soul to the devil at theCrossroads, they had a different meaning in
(07:47):
mind. Hyatt claimed there was evidenceindicating African religious retentions surrounding Legva and the
making of a deal with the socalled devil at the Roads. And while
we may never know, there isone thing we do know. The young
boy whose son House considered to bean embarrassment and bad guitarist, came back
(08:11):
with a style that no one elsecould touch. House himself, even said
this, he sold his soul tothe devil to play like that, and
that, of course, is wherethe legend may have started in the first
place. But whichever story is true, the fact remains that today three blue
(08:35):
guitars decorate the crossroads in Clarkstale wheremany folks believe Johnson still was struck with
the devil. I hope you enjoyedthis unusual tale. To find out more
(08:58):
about the show and keep up withwhat we are doing, follow Southern Oddities
on Twitter and Instagram by searching atSouthern oddpod. Make sure to subscribe for
free on Spotify, Apple podcast,Stitcher, or your favorite podcast listing app.
This show was created by me JaredOrtists and as part of the Ortist
(09:18):
Studios podcast network. You can learnmore about this show and more shows on
the network by visiting ortist Studios dotcom. And until the next time we
spend a yarn, don't let thedoor hit you where the Good Lord split you.
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