Blind Willie Johnson

Blind Willie Johnson

Born in Brenham, Texas, on 25 January 1897, Blind Willie Johnson made himself a cigar box guitar at age five while he could yet see. For at age seven he was accidentally blinded by his stepmother with lye during a fight with his father. As one of numerous blind blues artists, Johnson would spend the rest of his life in poverty, singing gospel blues on the streets of Texan towns largely in the Beaumont area. He made his first recordings on 3 December 1927 at the Jefferson Hotel in Dallas:

Josh White's 'In My Time of Dying' recorded on 15 August of 1933 was a version of Johnson's 'Jesus Make Up My Dying Bed' below:

Johnson's 'Motherless Children Have a Hard Time' was erroneously titled by Columbia as 'Mother's Children Have a Hard Time' upon issue in 1928:

'Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground' is one of 27 musical recordings on the Voyager Golden Record [Wikipedia] sent out into the cosmos on the Voyager space probe launched in 1977. The Voyager 1 is the most distant spacecraft from Earth presently 15.1 billion miles. Other than music from around the world, the Golden Record contains greetings in 55 languages along with numerous sounds of both nature and human invention [Wikipedia]. Included among the many titles on the Voyager Golden Record along with Johnson are J.S. Bach's 'Brandenburg Concerto No. 2' of 1721 recorded in 1967 by the Munich Bach Orchestra led by Karl Richter [Wikipedia], Chuck Berry's 'Johnny B. Goode' of 1958, Mozart's Act II of 'The Magic Flute' of 1791 recorded in 1972 by the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra and Chorus led by Wolfgang Sawallisch, Part II of Igor Stravinsky's 'The Rite of Spring' of 1913 recorded in 1960 by the Columbia Symphony Orchestra led by Stravinsky, Beethoven's 'Symphony No.5' of c 1804-08 recorded in 1955 by the Philharmonia Orchestra led by Otto Klemperer, and Beethoven's 'String Quartet No.13'' of 1826 recorded by the Budapest String Quartet in 1960.

Though 'If I Had My Way I'd Tear the Building Down' is a spiritual about Samson and Delilah, Johnson was once arrested for singing it in front of a government building in New Orleans, charged with attempting to incite a riot:

Johnson was once thought to be joined on vocals by his second wife, Angeline, whom he married in 1927 [Berry]. This is now believed to be Willie B. Harris, his first wife as of 1926 [ Carlson / Discogs] if not a later unknown.

Johnson later made his home in Beaumont at the House of Prayer preaching as Reverend W.J. Johnson. In 1945 that same home would burn down. Too poor to quarter elsewhere he lived in its ruins until his death the same year on 18 September of malarial fever.

Recordings by Johnson: Catalogs:

45 Cat   45 Worlds   Discogs   Hung Medien

Recordings by Johnson: Compilations:

The Complete Blind Willie Johnson / 1927-30 / 1993: Music Brainz   RYM