Brother Robert

Growing Up with Robert Johnson

Brother Robert
Preston Lauterbach, Elijah Wald, Annye C Anderson
RRP:
NZ$ 56.00
Our Price:
NZ$ 44.80
Hardback
h210 x 140mm - 224pg
9 Jun 2020 US
International import eta 7-19 days
9780306845260
Out Of Stock
Currently no stock in-store, stock is sourced to your order
Though only 27-years-young and relatively unknown at the time of his tragic death in 1938, Robert Johnson's enduring recordings have solidified his status as a progenitor of the Delta Blues style. And yet, while his music has retained the steadfast devotion of modern listeners, much remains unknown about the man who penned and played these timeless tunes. Few people alive today actually remember what Johnson was really like, and those who do have largely upheld their silence-until now.In Brother Robert, nonagenarian Annye Anderson sheds new light on a real-life figure largely obscured by his own legend: her kind and incredibly talented stepbrother, Robert Johnson. This book chronicles Johnson's unconventional path to stardom-from the harrowing story behind his illegitimate birth, to his first strum of the guitar on Anderson's father's knee, to the genre-defining recordings that would one day secure his legacy. Along the way, readers are gifted not only with Anderson's personal anecdotes, but with colorful recollections passed down to Anderson by members of their family-the people who knew Johnson best. Readers also learn about the contours of his working life in Memphis, never-before-disclosed details about his romantic history, and all of Johnson's favorite things, from foods and entertainers to brands of tobacco and pomade. Together, these stories don't just bring the mythologized Johnson back down to earth; they preserve both his memory and his integrity.For decades, Anderson and her family have ignored the tall tales of Johnson 'selling his soul to the devil' and the speculative to fictionalized accounts of his life that passed for biography. Brother Robert is here to set the record straight. Featuring a foreword by Elijah Wald and a Q&A with Anderson, Lauterbach, Wald, and Peter Guralnick, this book paints a vivid portrait of an elusive figure who forever changed the musical landscape as we know it.
"Although it's been more than 80 years since Anderson last saw Johnson, her memories are vivid and personal, as she recalls a well-loved older sibling who entertained his family and community with his guitar and vast repertoire of songs. [...] Anderson's account debunks myths about Johnson: he had a loving family; he was exposed to all kinds of popular music; he was not illiterate; and he did not go to the crossroads and sell his soul to the devil. Consider Anderson's heartfelt chronicle an earnest attempt to set the record straight."--Booklist
"Cutting through the mythos that has long surrounded this iconic artist, this is an intriguing addition to the history of 20th-century blues."--Library Journal
Publishers Weekly, "Most Anticipated Books of Spring 2020"
"An illuminating portrait of an artist lost in the mists of history and mystery."--Kirkus
"Anderson offers vivid, personal glimpses of her stepbrother ... providing a colorful picture .... [An] earnest and enlightening memoir."--Publishers Weekly
"Annye Anderson's lush, vivid memories from Robert Johnson's home base give the bluesman a personal dimension like never before. How he walked, the pomade in his hair, his protection of his guitar. The aura of mystery remains, but with Brother Robert, Johnson gains character and context, and becomes more of a person than we've ever known this specter to be."--Robert Gordon, author of Can't Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters and It Came From Memphis
Annye C. Anderson is a retired educator and administrator of the Boston Public Schools in Massachusetts.Preston Lauterbach is the author of Bluff City, Beale Street Dynasty, and The Chitlin Circuit. He lives near Charlottesville, VA.
Status: Indent title, imported to order
ISBN-13: 9780306845260
Published: 9 Jun 2020
Published In: United States
Imprint: Da Capo Press Inc
Publisher: Ingram Publisher Services US
Format: Hardback
Height: 210mm
Width: 140mm
Pages: 224

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