"I got to keep movin'", Johnson sings in the opening lyrics of Hellhound on My Trail, and move he did. Reports say that he spent the last years of his life traveling around the southern delta, strumming the blues wherever he rambled before poisoned whiskey allegedly took his life one evening in 1938-- just one year after recording this tune. Robert Johnson's influence on modern music is unquestionable. From the 1960s rock stars he inspired to his induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Johnson left a posthumous legacy that few have matched. It's a shame he never saw such fame or fortune during his lifetime.
I wanted to share an episode of NPR's Radiolab that discusses the Johnson myth and tries to undercover some truth behind the legend. It's a great listen and it fleshes out much of the Johnson story that I do not discuss in this blog. This song was also featured in NPR's 100 best songs of the 20th century.
Hellhound on my Trail seems like an autobiographical piece by the nomadic Robert Johnson; and his mastery of the blues is once again quite evident in this song. I still prefer his Cross Road Blues tune a bit more, but I enjoy almost all of the 29 songs that survive by this blues legend. This delta blues classic gets a well-deserved "Worth Hearing" seal.
Worth Hearing
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