An ongoing illustrative history study
This piece originally posted 6/16/2020
Continuing with the NASA theme from the past couple of biographies, but not in the way you'd expect. Meet "Blind Willie" Johnson, one of the earliest (and therefore one of the most authentic) blues artists ever recorded.
There is unfortunately not a lot to be known about Johnson's life --what fragments are known indicate that it was definitely not an easy one. His blindness is generally assumed to be from abuse from his stepmother at the age of seven. He only recorded a handful of tracks between 1927 and 1930, and towards the end of his life his house burned down and he continued to live in its ruins, eventually dying there, alone.
But here's where Johnson gets the last word. Go look up "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground," which is just about as haunting as it gets. That piece is the sole example of the blues to have been included on the golden Voyager space probe records, currently out beyond the heliosheath of the solar system and still moving.
Meaning Johnson's work will ultimately outsit humanity.
Next page - Lesson 9: Ruth Ellis