Crossroads: The Life and Afterlife of Blues Legend Robert Johnson

The result of careful and meticulous research, this stylishly-written biography of infamous blues musician Robert Johnson reveals the real story behind the mythical talent that made him a musical legend. According to some, Robert Johnson learned guitar by trading his soul away to the Devil at a crossroads in rural Mississippi. When he died at age 27 of a mysterious poisoning, many superstitious fans came to believe that the Devil had returned to take his due. This diligent study of Johnson's life debunks these myths while emphasizing the effect that Robert Johnson, said to be the greatest blues musician who ever lived, has had on modern musicians such as Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones and fans of the blues. Tom Graves, a master of what Ernest Hemingway called "the true sentence" and the telling detail, pieces together the fragments of the jagged, elusive puzzle that is Robert Johnson.

• Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues
• Deep Blues: A Musical and Cultural History of the Mississippi Delta
• Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta
• Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music
• The Complete Recordings (The Centennial Collection)
• Coming Through Slaughter
• Searching for Robert Johnson: The Life and Legend of the "King of the Delta Blues Singers"
• Devil in the Baptist Church: Bob Gray's Unholy Trinity
• Giovanni's Room
• Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music