Robert Johnson may not have had a hellhound on his trail, but he had a tenacious bulldog in the form of Memphis author and researcher Tom Graves, whose renewed interest in the famous singer and guitarist led to the new book, “Crossroads: The Life and Afterlife of Blues Legend Robert Johnson” (Demers Books, $15).

Published Oct. 2, the trade paperback is intended to be a setting-the-record-straight examination of the elusive prewar bluesman whose haunting music has influenced generations of artists on both sides of the Atlantic, from blues icons like Muddy Waters to such acolytes as Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Jack White.

“He’s become pure legend, and what I wanted to do is strip the legend away and see who the man is,” said Graves, 54, an English and humanities instructor at LeMoyne-Owen College who will discuss and sign copies of his book at 1 p.m. Saturday at Davis-Kidd Booksellers, 387 Perkins Ext. in Laurelwood.

“He’s as much a part of our folklore now as Davy Crockett or Daniel Boone,” Graves continued, “but at least for one book I wanted to set the record straight, for those people who really want to know the truth, or as much as we can know.”

Born in Hazlehurst, Miss., Johnson spent some time in Memphis and “toured” extensively, often playing for tips on street corners, before recording 59 known tracks during two sessions in Texas, in 1936 and 1937. Seventeen of these remain lost, and most of them — featuring the solo Johnson, accompanying himself on guitar — remained unissued until decades after the singer’s mysterious death at the age of 27 in 1938. (One of Graves’ revelations is evidence debunking the often accepted story that Johnson was poisoned with strychnine by a jealous husband.)

Johnson’s real fame was posthumous, starting in 1961 when Columbia issued the 16-track compilation King of the Delta Blues Singers, which introduced a worldwide audience to the original versions of such staples as “Come On in My Kitchen” and “Cross Road Blues” (later revamped by Cream), as well as “Me and the Devil Blues” and “Hellhound on My Trail” — themes that exacerbated the now well-known tale that Johnson claimed to have sold his soul to the devil at a Mississippi crossroads in exchange for musical prowess.

In 1991, Columbia issued the two-disc The Complete Recordings, which has sold more than a million copies, making it perhaps the best-selling blues album of all time. In 1994, the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp honoring Johnson, but ignited controversy by removing the singer’s cigarette from the portrait, copied from one of only two known and undisputed surviving photographs of the bluesman.

Graves said he had been listening to Johnson for years before a creative-writing teaching gig at Hickory Ridge Middle School a few years ago stirred a special interest in the credited composer of “Sweet Home Chicago” and “Terraplane Blues.”

“I asked the class, ‘How many of you have ever heard of Robert Johnson?,’ and not a single hand went up. Then I said, ‘How many of you have seen the movie “Crossroads” with the Karate Kid in it?,’ and almost everybody had.”

A 1986 film with Ralph Macchio, “Crossroads” was inspired by the devil legend now associated with Johnson, and has done much to popularize the story, Graves said. He said his classroom’s reaction made him realize how far from the truth and how deep into the culture the story had traveled.

Graves says his book “nails shut” the idea that Johnson ever claimed diabolical intervention. There’s no doubt, however, that the devil myth has contributed to Johnson’s continued popularity, keeping him weirdly relevant in the world of Marilyn Manson, Stephen King and “Hellboy.” (Even the innocuously titled Johnson song “Malted Milk” contains this rhyme: “My doorknob keeps on turning, must be spooks around my bed/ I have a warm ol’ feeling, and the hair’s rising on my head....”)

Said Graves: “A lot of people think the real crossroads in Johnson’s life was when he was 18 years old, and his teenage wife and son died in childbirth. After that, he was never rooted in one place. The relationships he discusses in the songs are almost always fraught with tensions and worries.”

Johnson’s life and work has been much analyzed, in articles and in such books as “Escaping the Delta: Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues” by Elijah Wald, and “Searching for Robert Johnson: The Life and Legend of the ‘King of the Delta Blues Singers,’” by Peter Guralnick. Graves — who was the editor and publisher of “Rock & Roll Disc,” a Memphis-based journal that was one of the first to critically review CD reissues — acknowledges his predecessors’ work, but says his book is the first to definitively examine Johnson’s history. (The book includes a reproduction of Johnson’s LeFlore County death certificate, which includes a handwritten suggestion – probably inspired by racism -- that Johnson may have died of syphilis.) The book also investigates such “afterlife” issues as the discovery of Johnson relatives; the fight over the Johnson estate; and the controversial role of blues historian Steve La Vere, an initially self-appointed and ultimately handsomely rewarded guardian of the Johnson legacy. (La Vere contributes an introduction to the book.)

Summed up Graves: “Robert Johnson is definitely a poet of the Mississippi delta. It’s amazing how he was able to reach so deep into human darkness the way he did. And that’s what resonates with people.”

NEW BOOK QUESTIONS ROBERT JOHNSON LEGEND

(From The Clarksdale Press Register)

by Andy Ross, Staff Writer

Thursday, August 14, 2008 12:44 PM CDT

The mysterious life and music of bluesman Robert Johnson is a topic that has continually fascinated music scholars, historians and others since the early 1960’s when Johnson’s music first gained international acclaim after rock artists such as Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones credited him with inspiration.

Since that time, extensive research has been dedicated to Johnson and revealed through numerous books, articles and documentary films. Yet how much new information about the man himself is known in 2008 that was not known 10 or 20 years ago?

Such was one of the questions with which author Tom Graves approached his recently published book, “Crossroads: The Life and Afterlife of Blues Legend Robert Johnson,” released to the public for the first time this past weekend in Clarksdale during the Sunflower River Blues and Gospel Festival.

“This is not a critical history of Johnson’s music; other people have done that,” said Graves during a book signing Friday at Cat Head.

“I wanted to focus on who he really was and what we can do to strip away some of the myths. What happened after he died, when only a handful of people really knew who he was? How did he go from zero to a hundred miles an hour in a period of fifty years or so?”

One of the “myths” that Graves –– former editor of Rock & Roll Disc magazine –– examines in his new book, is the commonly accepted notion of Johnson’s death by strychnine poisoning. Graves said he believes it far more likely Johnson died from tainted white lighting or even food poisoning.

“I started checking into what strychnine poisoning is all about and it is virtually impossible to poison somebody that way. You have to drink a lot, not just a small amount you can hide in some whisky,” Graves said.

As far as the legend of Johnson selling his soul to the devil at the crossroads, Graves says it is actually a legend intended for another bluesman, Tommy Johnson, who was totally unrelated to Robert.

According to Graves, Tommy Johnson’s preacher brother, LeDell, told blues historian David Evans in 1966 that he believed his brother had sold his soul to the devil in exchange for musical gifts. In referring to the documented interview with Evans, Graves writes in his book, “those hundred words or so laid the groundwork for one of the most profound cases of mistaken identity in the history of American folklore.”

Furthermore, Graves claims that the legend surrounding Robert Johnson selling his soul was perpetuated by both the young rock and roll musicians who had fallen hard for Johnson’s music, and fellow bluesmen who during interviews on the issue were sometimes prompted for answers.

While Graves acknowledges there are some who will take issue with claims in his book, the author says his purpose is not to explode the myths, but explain them as part of a context for understanding why Johnson's music has resonated so loudly and emotionally with so many people.

“I really don’t think I explode the myth or burn it down,” Graves said. “Legends are kind of beautiful things, but at the the same time when you are writing for the sake of history you want to get it right; and so many people have gotten it wrong that really should have looked a little deeper.”

The author says in order to construct what he believes to be an accurate portrayal of Johnson's life, he had to embark on what he calls a “grand sifting” method of research.

“I found certain people had it right on the money here and certain people had it right on the money there, and I had to really thread these things together to get the real portrait,” Graves said.

Ultimately Graves spent a full year of research dedicated to the book, but says he came away with an even more mysterious perspective on Johnson’s life and deeper understanding of his music.

“After this is he less mysterious or more? He is more,” Graves said. “Artistically there was something very deep going on there that I don’t think even his closest friends were able to tap into. His lyrics, his music, his voice, all connect with people in ways that even some of the great bluesmen don’t, and I think that is why his stuff is so timeless.

“It is stuff that sort of embedded itself in some deep American unconscious, and I think we are going to be listening to him for a long time.”