BROTHER ROBERT

Robert Johnson's nonagenarian stepsister shows sides of him that few have seen.

Part of the aura of Johnson’s eminence atop the blues world has been the mystery surrounding him. Much of his public presence has been established through a single photograph and some 29 recorded songs, which were cheaply recorded and weren’t widely distributed until decades after his death (also shrouded in mystery). Adding to that aura was the legend that he had come to his blues mastery by selling his soul to the devil down at the “Crossroads”—the title of the song that would become much better known as performed by Eric Clapton. If the Johnson of myth and legend is somewhat bare-boned, this memoir, co-authored by Lauterbach, adds flesh and blood. Anderson was only 12 when the older stepbrother she knew as “Brother Robert” died, but her memory remains vivid and detailed. The bluesman she knew was no unschooled primitive but rather a crowd-pleasing showman who could mimic country favorites such as Gene Autry and Jimmie Rodgers. As Anderson recalls, "In addition to yodeling, [he] had other talents. He could play with both hands" and "could play spoons, too." The first part of the memoir recalls the brother she knew that others didn’t while the second part details “how my family lost Brother Robert again,” as exploiters took advantage of the family’s photos and memories and turned Johnson into a popular commodity without sharing more than scraps with the family. The genealogy is occasionally confusing, and the late appearance of an unacknowledged son complicates the legal claim, but this memoir represents a valiant attempt to set the record straight and give Johnson's family their due. One of Kirkus and Rolling Stone’s Best Music Books of 2020.

An illuminating portrait of an artist lost in the mists of history and mystery.