Celebrating Blind Willie Johnson – Gospel Blues – ” John the Revelator “
I first heard Blind Willie Johnson on the Ryerson radio station CKLN in the mid 1980s on a late night gospel and blues show. When I recently read the CRTC had revoked their license, it brought to mind the pleasure I had in listening to the station and the exposure it gave me to rare music in a time before Youtube and the Internet.
Blind Willie Johnson lived a difficult life of hardship, poverty and racism. He was blinded as a young boy by his stepmother who threw lye in his face (whether intentionally or not is unclear). To support himself he sang on street corners with a guitar and pocket knife or bottle neck slide. Between 1927 and 1930 he recorded about 30 sides and then returned to street singing. His recordings were part of the Race Record phenomenon that marketed 78 rpm phonographs to African Americans that started the careers of many famous black musicians and singers. The Okeh Record company and Vocalion were especially associated with this idea.
He died in tragic circumstances soon after his house burned down. Having no where else to go he slept in the damp ruins and caught pneumonia or malaria and was possibly refused admittance to the local hospital due to his blindness. Like many black singers of this era his grave was unknown and unmarked. There was a successful movement afoot to erect a memorial marker although there is some controversy even about this.
It is both his gravelly and emotionally vibrant voice and his exceptional slide guitar playing technique which makes him stand out as a performer and which has influenced later musicians. If you're not deeply moved by his version of the traditional gospel song "John the Revelator", then surely you must be made of stone. The call and response is a typical feature of gospel music. As with so much of his life, there is even mystery around the identity of the woman who is singing (likely his first wife Willie B. Harris but possibly his second wife Angeline or Anna Bell Robinson ).
Blind Willie Johnson's song "Dark Was The Night ( Cold Was The Ground )" was included on the Golden Records "The Sounds of Earth" recording that was sent into space with the Voyager One space probe in 1977. This compilation of humanity's best music will serve as an introduction to whatever life may exist in space of music on the planet Earth. Recorded by Johnson in December 1928, the song opens with a slide-guitar run followed quickly by Johnson's mournful moan and almost wordess expression of emotion.
Blind Willie Johnson was a gospel singer and guitar evangelist (and possibly a Baptist preacher as well) and although he did not record any secular songs he is also influential on early Blues music. In researching his life it is fruitful to use books from both subject areas. Samuel Charters did much early research on Johnson and produced two LP records including an interview with Angeline Johnson, Blind Willie's second wife. Charters also did extensive research, writing and publishing on other gospel, jazz, African and blues singers. He has a chapter on Blind Willie in his book The Country Blues. As well in the early 1950s Harry Smith gathered a great deal of early recordings and research in Anthology of American Folk Music – originally a LP collection but reissued as 6 Cds and 2 extensive booklets of information.
There is lots available on CD and also on Youtube for Blind Willie Johnson – he is on many compilations as well as having some solo recordings. The complete Blind Willie Johnson CD above has an extensive collection of notes and lyrics including sections written by Samuel Charters who interviewed Angeline Johnson.
There are the many artists who did covers of his songs afterwards. Led Zeppelin did a version of "Nobody's Fault but Mine" – the gossip is they didn't credit him for the song on the album notes – although I have to say in terms of performance and wordless expressions of emotion it's bang on. Nick Cave did a cover version of "John the Revelator" which I found painful to listen to initially even though the McGarrigle Sisters are the backup. For a more "pure" version you may want to listen to Son House's cover in live performance (there is also a tamer studio version).
Let me know what your favourite Blind Willie Johnson song is by leaving a comment.
This blog was edited Dec 7 2011 to add a "John the Revelator" Youtube link and delete one sentence referring to a lack of such links on Youtube, and also replace an out of date Son House Youtube clip. Bill V.
9 thoughts on “Celebrating Blind Willie Johnson – Gospel Blues – ” John the Revelator “”
There’s no controversy on the memorial. Check it out here: http://weeniecampbell.com/mambo/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=128&topic=5229.30
Steve thanks for your interest in Texan gospel blues and for your comments and the link. When I was writing about the search for the grave and the process to get a marker I included a couple of links to some background info as well as a youtube clip to some film of the marker that shows the same marker as you’ve provided – so it’s great to get another image – I hadn’t noticed the coffee cups – I had heard it was a coffee can’tied to the end of his guitar – but cups make more sense in a way. enjoy and thanks for taking the time to write
Hey Bill,
That’s great. I have always loved Johnson’s music and I was so happy to finally see him being recognized. I found out all the new info when reading an article in Texas Monthly Magazine. Thanks for your article and clips as well. He surely was one of the greatest of the pre-war blues along with McTell and Son House. Thanks!
Hi, Bill,
Thanks for this post about Blind Willie Johnson. I knew the name, but I think that this is the first time I’ve heard any of his music. I will certainly seek out more of Johnson’s music.
On another note, I’m a very big fan of Sam Moore, and my first exposure to John the Revelator was in the rather lame movie ‘Blues Brothers 2000,’ the highlight [for me] of which was Moore’s version of that song.
Thanks again,
Richard
I enjoyed learning about Willie Johnson’s life and music, thanks!
Your mention of the Voyager golden record reminds me of a mountain folk song from my home country Bulgaria, which was also included in Voyager.
“Izlel je Delyo Hagdutin” sung by Valya Balkanska. I hope you enjoy it!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipb_xzcCs6I
I really enjoyed this article! Well researched!
And thanks for mentioning CKLN. An online petition to save CKLN can be reached @ http://www.ckln.fm/news/1-news/90-petition
Thanks for the information about Blind Willie, and also for Iana’s comment about Bulgarian music aboard the Voyager. My friends who sing Georgian music with me are always happy to recall the recording of Chakrulo, which follows the Queen of the Night in the list of recorded music.
Such a world we live in, and such a variety of amazing music types. I wonder if the alien creatures will figure out how to listen to it? (Some other humans certainly have trouble figuring out how to understand music that’s unfamiliar, let alone played on golden records with oddly incomprehensible playback instructions.)
Alan, thanks for your comments – the variety of music on the Voyager Golden Records is truly astounding – I hope to do a series of blog posts on each piece over the coming months.
Here’s a link to the music that is on Voyager – truly world wide.
http://re-lab.net/welcome/music.html
I take your point about technology and aliens – I am going to now try and set the clock on my DVD player 😉
bill
Blind Willie fans may be interested in http://shanespeal.com/fr_blindwillie.cfm, a free cigar box guitar tribute to Blind Willie.
I haven’t listened to the whole thing yet, but what I have listened to has been pretty good.