Blind Willie Johnson
"Blind " Willie Johnson ( January 22, 1897 *, † September 18, 1945 ) was an American singer and guitarist whose work was rooted in both the Blues and the Spiritual. While his lyrics were all of a religious nature, his musical expressions deduced from both traditional sources.
Life
Childhood and youth
According to a later discovered death certificate Johnson was born in 1897 near Brenham, Texas. Until then, other places of birth ( Waco, Temple ) and also a later date of birth had been called (by 1902). His childhood was spent largely in Marlin. Johnson's mother died when he was a small child; his father married again afterwards. He was not blind from birth. When he was about seven years old, his stepmother threw him following a tantrum liquor in his eyes. When Johnson got older, he started on the road to play the guitar in order to make money. Even then he did not use the slide technique, but with a broken bottle neck, but with a pair of pliers. Johnson but actually was not going to be blues musicians, the bible solid young man would rather sing gospel.
Career
In 1927, he met his first wife, Willie B. Harris know, together with her he began to Dallas and Waco act around. She inspired him to take old songs of the 19th century in his repertoire, including Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning and Praise God I'm Satisfied. Later, Johnson was married to a woman named Angeline. To date, no marriage licenses or the like has been found to demonstrate whether or the periods during which Johnson was married. It is believed that he was married to Willie B. Harris from 1926 (or 1927) to 1932 (or 1933). His second wife survived him and worked as a nurse.
On 3 December 1927 he participated in the studios of Columbia Records on his first six plays, including his most famous Dark Was The Night - Cold Was The Ground. A year later he held with his wife again a recording session from; 1929, the two traveled with Elder Dave Ross to New Orleans, where he recorded ten songs for Columbia, including the gospel - piece Let Your Light Shine On Me He played only once a song, in April 1930. Again, it was his wife Willie. This was the last time for Johnson, he was picking up plates. From then on, he appeared on the streets to earn a living.
1945, perhaps in 1947, burned his house down. Since Johnson, however, was very poor, remained no choice but to continue to live in the ruins. Blind Willie Johnson died after pneumonia.
Johnson's Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground is included on the Voyager Golden Record gold record, which is located on board the two interstellar space probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Likewise, in the legendary Wire The Wire 's list " 100 Records That Set The World On Fire (While No One Was Listening ) ".