The delta blues singer / guitarist Robert Johnson, who died young in 1938, was perhaps the first pop star in the tradition of Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and Kurt Cobain. Fueled by his crude but virtuoso (slide) guitar playing and his lyrics full of unrest, demons and (hidden) sex, there are now many legends about the man. 'I'm gonna beat my woman until I'm satisfied', he howls on Me And The Devil
… Blues, like a gangsta rapper. On this tribute album to Johnson, the American blues singer and guitarist Rory Block turns this into: 'I'm gonna love my man ...'. But otherwise she works tough and passionate about Johnson's oeuvre. With her guitar playing she equals the originals, an unprecedented achievement that took her years of study. Where Johnson sounds like the devil's on his heels Block gives its own twist to the music by adding peace and space. The originally raw pearls gain in beauty in the hands of this special woman. (MR)more
