At the crossroads
Steven Johnson, a grandson of the bluesman, who is also a singer and vice president of the Robert Johnson Blues Foundation, says the soul-selling story at the crossroads is not true. According to Steven, when Johnson left the Delta music scene for years, he spent those years back in his hometown of Hazelhurst, Mississippi, learning music from guitar hero Ike Zimmerman.
Annye Anderson, who grew up in the same extended family as Johnson and just released a book about the bluesman, says the soul-selling story was “just conjured up.”
“When people ask me that question, I ask them did Eric Clapton go to the crossroads? Did Bonnie Raitt go to the crossroads? Did the Rolling Stones go to the crossroads?” Anderson said. “Brother Robert was just a talented young man, he didn’t have to go to the crossroads.”
