Blues: Rory Block's The Lady and Mr. Johnson

Robert Johnson was recording in mono, long before the 2-track recorder was invented. However, listening to Rory Block singing his blues on The Lady and Mr. Johnson, you’d think that somehow they took Johnson’s voice out of his recordings, left his legendary bottleneck slide guitar, and Block just supplied the vocals.

Of course, that kind of karaoke accompaniment would be hard to create, so you have to look again at the liner notes to see that indeed Rory Block’s the one on guitar. A long-time student of the blues, the album comes with the blessing of Johnson’s ancestors, found in 2006 after Block had already been working on this project. His grandson pays high tribute to the way Block keeps Johnson’s music alive.

Sitting at John Hammond, Jr.’s feet during his performance in Manitowoc (see review), I realized I was getting an education in the blues—soaking up just what it means to know the blues, to sing the blues, to breathe the blues, to see a guitar-slinging prophet catch the blues out of the air and lay them before your eyes. The Lady and Mr. Johnson continues that education, because surely I’ve never understood what I was hearing on the King of the Delta Blues collection. Block’s interpretation sends me back to the man himself to see that among the hissy, scratchy recordings is more than genius. It’s something else entirely, because genius usually only describes intellect. Johnson was a genius of artistry, emotion, and preaching fire. Block says the project was her Ph.D., and you’ll never read such a moving dissertation.

Block just finished a short tour with the Straightway Ministries Church (which includes members of Robert Johnson’s family). The show titled “Down at the Crossroads: Blues Meets Gospel” exemplifies something I’ve often discussed: the connection between early Gospel and early blues. Hopefully, this tour/project will continue in some form beyond the short 4-performance tour.

Thanks to Rory Block and Rykodisc for the review CD.