Blind Willie Johnson
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Blind Willie Johnson (Willie Johnson, Brenham, Texas, January 22, 1897 – Beaumont, Texas, September 18, 1945) was an American singer and guitarist whose music straddled the border between blues and spirituals.
While the lyrics of all of his songs were religious, his music drew from both sacred and blues traditions. Among musicians, he is considered one of the greatest slide or bottleneck guitarists, as well as one of the most revered figures of depression-era gospel music. His music is distinguished by his powerful bass thumb-picking and gravelly false-bass voice, with occasional use of a tenor voice.
Blind Willie Johnson was born in 1897 near Brenham, Texas (before the discovery of his death certificate, Temple, Texas had been suggested as his birthplace). When he was five, he told his father he wanted to be a preacher, and then made himself a cigar box guitar. His mother died when he was young and his father remarried soon after her death.
Johnson was not born blind, and, although it is not known how he lost his sight, Angeline Johnson provided the following account to Samuel Charters. She said when Willie was seven his father beat his stepmother after catching her going out with another man. The stepmother then picked up a handful of lye and threw it, not at Willie’s father, but into the face of young Willie.
It is thought that Johnson was married twice, first to a woman with the same first name, Willie B Harris, and later to a young singer named Angeline, who was the sister of blues guitarist L.C. Robinson. No marriage certificates have yet been discovered.
While the lyrics of all of his songs were religious, his music drew from both sacred and blues traditions. Among musicians, he is considered one of the greatest slide or bottleneck guitarists, as well as one of the most revered figures of depression-era gospel music. His music is distinguished by his powerful bass thumb-picking and gravelly false-bass voice, with occasional use of a tenor voice.
Blind Willie Johnson was born in 1897 near Brenham, Texas (before the discovery of his death certificate, Temple, Texas had been suggested as his birthplace). When he was five, he told his father he wanted to be a preacher, and then made himself a cigar box guitar. His mother died when he was young and his father remarried soon after her death.
Johnson was not born blind, and, although it is not known how he lost his sight, Angeline Johnson provided the following account to Samuel Charters. She said when Willie was seven his father beat his stepmother after catching her going out with another man. The stepmother then picked up a handful of lye and threw it, not at Willie’s father, but into the face of young Willie.
It is thought that Johnson was married twice, first to a woman with the same first name, Willie B Harris, and later to a young singer named Angeline, who was the sister of blues guitarist L.C. Robinson. No marriage certificates have yet been discovered.
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Blind Willie Johnson (The Big Blues Collection)
Blind Willie Johnson
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Dark Was the Night
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The Complete Blind Willie Johnson
Blind Willie Johnson Buy- Download Album
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Sweeter as the Years Go By
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Shoutbox
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bonnie_jamie Idiocy in full effect in this shoutbox
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javier0889 He was blind AND he played his guitar with a pocketknife as a slide. I don't care if he was christian.
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zwurbelkurbel wonderful!
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Son_Of_KAI-us idiots...
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Spectacolos the last comment disgust me, and I am as atheist as they get. :)
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erdiawan great, raw sound. too bad he was a jebus-creeper. [2] lol
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Dezibelchen Now I know from whom Tom Waits borrowed his voice.
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VK1990 John the Revelator
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Dark was the night...
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* Let Your Light Shine On Me *
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Blind Willie: "You're Gonna…
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Motherless Children Have a Hard…
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