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Originally Posted by Big Mike Simpson
Robert Johnson was one of the first of a generation of musicians that was "less regionalized" due to recorded music becoming more available. For this reason his music contains more varied influences than many of his predecessors. As for his "innovation" it has been noted that all but a couple of the 29 songs, 42 takes, can be attributed to recorded music that was available for him to listen to and learn from in the years preceding his recordings. Robert learned much from Son house and Willie Brown when he hung around their gigs as a kid.
Robert Johnson does deserve accolades for assimilating his influences into his own product but should not completely overshadow his predecessors.
Check out Son House, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Tommy Johnson (no relation), Kokomo Arnold, Ismon Bracey, Scrapper Blackwell, Tampa Red, Bo Carter, Willie Newbern, Blind Blake and Lonnie Johnson (no relation) to name a few. Listen to the 1941 Library of Congress recordings of David "Honeyboy" Edwards who traveled and played with Robert Johnson. Also listen to Muddy Waters The complete Plantation Recordings.
If he had not died young would he be any more revered than his peers?
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Over the past 22 years, I have heard and acquired recordings by most of the arisits you have listed and then some, all of which have been great. I am well aware of Johnson's influences (and I am similarly well aware of Chuck Berry's and Keith Richards' influences, both direct and indirect). That said, I still feel Johnson's music was the strongest of all of them, the most intense. And intensity is what I am after, over anything else.
Heather