I'm truly enjoying your work, Ted. Peter Stampfel shared the first installment of your book on facebook last summer, and I've been following you since then.
I wanted to mention two sources that both confirm and may further enlighten your work, in case you aren't aware of them. The first is an essay by Michael Ventura called "Hear That Long Snake Moan" which looks at the alchemy which created American Music in New Orleans as informed by the connection to Haitian Voodoo. That essay was the keynote in a 1980s book called Shadow Dancing in the USA, and can be downloaded from Ventura's website here: https://michaelventura.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/HEAR-THAT-LONG-SNAKE-MOAN.pdf
The other is the work of Peter Kingsley, who has done much on the pre-Socratic philosophers. In particular, his book _Reality_ discusses a journey to the world of the dead by Parmenides, who is now known as the father of logic - cleaned up just like you have the critics of Robert Johnson attempting to do in this piece. But he was much more.
One detail of particular note is Willie Mae Powell saying Johnson met the devil at "a fork in the road" which is more specific than a crossroads. Kingsley specifically discusses the significance for the ancient Greeks of the crossroads being a place where a road split - a fork - not what we think of now as two roads crossing. You may find further fodder and fuel for your fire there. Keep on keepin' on!
You will find a lot of Peter Kingsley's influence in later chapters of this book. I've been studying his work for more than 15 years—and even made attempts to correspond with him (but can never get through his secretary, or whomever is handling his emails). But his writings on Empedocles, Parmenides and the later secret 'dream cults' that came out of these ancient philosophical currents have been of enormous benefit to me. In some ways, Robert Johnson is a modern equivalent of Empedocles and the shamanistic tradition among the pre-Socratics. But that will all come out in subsequent chapters of this book.
I wondered from the outset when you were discussing the Derveni papyrus and its links to Orpheus and the pre-Socratics if it were the case that Kingsley was an influence, but couldn't find any citations. I will look forward to how the book evolves and ties in these threads! As a musician, I believe there is a deep underground river which makes the surface aspects of music pale to insignificance. I seek clues in your writing (and Kingsley's) on how to work within that tradition. Thank you so much for your response.
There are two layers of mythic imagery involved in these celestial roadways. The crossroads is the more recent, since it refers to the point where the ecliptic — the sun’s path across the sky — crosses the zodiac, and that image probably dates only to the Neolithic. But the forking path is seemingly much older and dates back at least to the ice age, since it clearly refers to the place where the Milky Way — the original bridge of souls — splits to either side of the Great Rift.
Wow, that's a great perception. Thank you, Cory. I took a look at Rymer. Ah, the path of righteousness, the path of wrongteousness, or the path to Elfland... As the human said about the alien abductor, "Hell, I'd go!"
So far, I'm just publishing the book in installments here on Substack (at a pace of one chapter per month, more or less). It will come out in book form too—but I need to make sure I find the right publisher for the project. I'll focus on that once I get more of the book online.
Since I'm Jewish, it's hard not to think of the conflict between secular and sacred music in The Jazz Singer or in the original play and short story, Yom Kippur.
I draw heavily on Jewish traditions in the next chapter of my book. The connections with the blues are fascinating. I will probably publish that online sometime in March.
WORLD magazine reported (some years ago now) that Johnson experienced a deathbed conversion to Christianity. I don't know the source of this claim. I would be interested to know if your research touches on this either to confirm or deny.
I will discuss this subject in the second installment of this chapter. We recently got more information on this matter from some previously unknown sources, and it fits very closely with the view of Robert Johnson I share here.
This is brilliant and medicinal. I haven't been to the Church of Coltrane yet, but it's on my list. Huge Alice Coltrane fan, v. happy to see mention of her here. Thanks for whacking down some of these goofy pop-psych cliches about Johnson & the blues in general. Can't wait to read Part II!
The phenomenon of judging in a negative way an artist's output that directly invokes spirituality is also present in one of America's greatest composers, Duke Ellington. From all accounts Duke was always a spiritual man, going back to his childhood in Washington D.C. when he would go to both his mother's and his father's Church on Sunday. Obviously, there were certain tenets of a religious life that Duke continually ignored, such as his lifelong affairs with women, but no one can contend his view of God was unimportant to him, and he showed that in his music. The spiritual theme from "Black, Brown & Beige," entitled "Come Sunday," is a masterful song that both describes the joy African-Americans found in church, and has a sonority that can evoke the transcendence of existence for even non-believers. Later, with his three sacred concerts, described by Duke himself as "the most important things I have ever done," he was able to bring his spirituality to its full display. However, for many serious scholars and fans of Ellington, his sacred music is often not held in very high regard. I have always sensed a level of discomfort, even, at the music, as if the reviewer him or herself cannot bring themselves to like the music due to its spiritual themes. They would rather think of Ellington as this mythical figure, surely not bound by the trappings of old-time religion, the composer who best put the African-American experience into music. But one cannot tell the story of the African-American experience without religion, so such views have always confused me. I find it very easy, even as a non-believer myself, to set aside the spiritual messages and focus on the music, and in my opinion there is a great deal to appreciate.
My father was from Clarksdale, his father moved the family away after the '27 flood. I worked on the Delta and saw and heard many things. It is a different kind of place.
I am a little surprised that you don't mention Elegua, the Yoruban orisha who is seen as the messenger of the crossroads. (or maybe I missed something). I think that Robert Farris Thompson may discuss this in his book Flash of the Spirit. The spiritual meeting ground at the crossroads was a concept that was deeply embedded in West African religion and mythology - and in this area of the Delta there were many elements that were retained from the Yoruban religions and practices.
It appears in the Meso-American Popul Vuh as well, the Crossroads with the Black Road to the Dark House of the lords of Xibalba. That's another tale of death and rebirth, supposedly linked to corn/maize culture. I'd be shocked if there wasn't music in some form. As Robert Burns pointed out, there is a lot of power in the place where two paths meet. On the other hand, that's also where we get the word "trivia".
Excellent! You can feel the energy of something beyond the mundane in those old blues recordings. Patton is my favorite of them and I have nearly worn out my cds of his recordings listening to them. Something ethereal crawls through those recordings and into your ears, mind and soul listening to him. I like Johnson too, but his music is harder for me to listen to for any length of time. Something is darker and more disturbing, to me at least, in his recordings, but they simply shimmer with the spirit of his muse. I am loving this book! Anyone who doesn't hear the deeply transgressive and trance-state energies of the old blues just doesn't know what they are hearing, and wouldn't know a spiritual experience if it bit them on the backside. :-)
Speaking of ethereal things slipping into recordings, while it's not exactly a blues, I offer Fats Waller's Jitterbug Waltz as an example.
Maybe it really is just me, but I have always sensed there is something unearthly, ectoplasmic even, on that recording. I've read, and find believable, that shortly before he wrote and recorded Jitterbug Waltz, Waller had been warned by a doctor that if he didn't moderate his ways ( cease being Fats Waller, in other words ), he wasn't long for this world.
The song and that first recording have always had a melancholy and wistful quality for me. But there is, and again, maybe it's just me, also a joyous quality, a "laying my burdens down and crossing over Jordan" quality. It's as if with that recording Waller was declaring he was done with this world and was not all that sorry about it, either.
A fan's take, I know, probably my version of people who used to read all sorts of imbecilic things into 60s lyrics, yet I've never been able to shake it. I haven't yet asked my pastor, who when he was in college played bass in a jazz trio, to see that Jitterbug Waltz is played/sung at my funeral ( I'd be happy to write my own lyric for it ), but I probably will.
Thanks, Ted, love your work! Have you read William Blake's "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell?" I think you'd appreciate the connection . . . Blake writes, "I tell you, no virtue can exist without breaking these ten commandments," which came to mind when you wrote "with every one of the Ten Commandments getting trampled upon."
I read Blake in my early days, and last year I decided to dig into him more deeply. I even got Northrop Fyre's book 'Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake' and started studying all his symbols and mythology. But this has proven to be a much deeper matter than I anticipated. In many ways, Blake is one of the most challenging authors in the English language. He is every bit as challenging as Joyce or Gaddis or Faulkner, maybe even more so. I need to devote a lot more time to Blake before I feel a confident mastery of his worldview. For the time being, I simply enjoy him for the poetry.
I really enjoy Martha Redbone's album 'Martha Redbone Roots Project The Garden of Love - The Songs of William Blake'. It may be a bit off topic here but it is an interesting take on some of Blake's poetry.
I see you have Otis Taylor on that list as well. He put out a new album at Octave called 'Hey Joe Opus: Red Meat'. It's very good. Octave is putting out some very good stuff on vinyl and for download in high resolution.
Edit: My mistake. It was a high res reissue but is still very good.
Wow. I'd forgotten it has been out that long. It has staying power. I listened to it while writing the first comment. The reference to Blake brought it to mind.
Those who believe the devil doesn’t exist, look at how many people kill others and themselves daily, then think about it.
It’s not just Johnson and the Blues, it’s everyone and everywhere that we each find that devil or devils or the demons, and once you have seen the horror that man does to himself and others, you will know.
Hi Ted. I'm torn between my enjoyment of reading this book and my frustration at having to wait a month between episodes. But I know we're getting it more quickly than if you'd had to find a conventional publisher. I'm looking forward to reading what you have to say about the Yoruba tradition. I encountered this on a trip to Cuba and was struck by its parallels to Catholicism.
Maaan, within the last week I just put up on my wall a postcard of this picture of Trane with his holy horn...! All praise Ohnedaruth...and Robert Johnson too!
Nicholas Payton has a sample of Dizzy saying something very similar on one of his recordings("playing music is a form of worship" , or something close to that)...I think it's on AFRO CARIBBEAN MIX TAPE...
I'm truly enjoying your work, Ted. Peter Stampfel shared the first installment of your book on facebook last summer, and I've been following you since then.
I wanted to mention two sources that both confirm and may further enlighten your work, in case you aren't aware of them. The first is an essay by Michael Ventura called "Hear That Long Snake Moan" which looks at the alchemy which created American Music in New Orleans as informed by the connection to Haitian Voodoo. That essay was the keynote in a 1980s book called Shadow Dancing in the USA, and can be downloaded from Ventura's website here: https://michaelventura.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/HEAR-THAT-LONG-SNAKE-MOAN.pdf
The other is the work of Peter Kingsley, who has done much on the pre-Socratic philosophers. In particular, his book _Reality_ discusses a journey to the world of the dead by Parmenides, who is now known as the father of logic - cleaned up just like you have the critics of Robert Johnson attempting to do in this piece. But he was much more.
One detail of particular note is Willie Mae Powell saying Johnson met the devil at "a fork in the road" which is more specific than a crossroads. Kingsley specifically discusses the significance for the ancient Greeks of the crossroads being a place where a road split - a fork - not what we think of now as two roads crossing. You may find further fodder and fuel for your fire there. Keep on keepin' on!
You will find a lot of Peter Kingsley's influence in later chapters of this book. I've been studying his work for more than 15 years—and even made attempts to correspond with him (but can never get through his secretary, or whomever is handling his emails). But his writings on Empedocles, Parmenides and the later secret 'dream cults' that came out of these ancient philosophical currents have been of enormous benefit to me. In some ways, Robert Johnson is a modern equivalent of Empedocles and the shamanistic tradition among the pre-Socratics. But that will all come out in subsequent chapters of this book.
I wondered from the outset when you were discussing the Derveni papyrus and its links to Orpheus and the pre-Socratics if it were the case that Kingsley was an influence, but couldn't find any citations. I will look forward to how the book evolves and ties in these threads! As a musician, I believe there is a deep underground river which makes the surface aspects of music pale to insignificance. I seek clues in your writing (and Kingsley's) on how to work within that tradition. Thank you so much for your response.
There are two layers of mythic imagery involved in these celestial roadways. The crossroads is the more recent, since it refers to the point where the ecliptic — the sun’s path across the sky — crosses the zodiac, and that image probably dates only to the Neolithic. But the forking path is seemingly much older and dates back at least to the ice age, since it clearly refers to the place where the Milky Way — the original bridge of souls — splits to either side of the Great Rift.
(I do wonder, though, about the third path followed in the Ballad of Thomas the Rhymer. https://sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch037.htm)
Wow, that's a great perception. Thank you, Cory. I took a look at Rymer. Ah, the path of righteousness, the path of wrongteousness, or the path to Elfland... As the human said about the alien abductor, "Hell, I'd go!"
What a great Substack this is. Substack keeps delivering. Is that book available?
So far, I'm just publishing the book in installments here on Substack (at a pace of one chapter per month, more or less). It will come out in book form too—but I need to make sure I find the right publisher for the project. I'll focus on that once I get more of the book online.
Since I'm Jewish, it's hard not to think of the conflict between secular and sacred music in The Jazz Singer or in the original play and short story, Yom Kippur.
I draw heavily on Jewish traditions in the next chapter of my book. The connections with the blues are fascinating. I will probably publish that online sometime in March.
WORLD magazine reported (some years ago now) that Johnson experienced a deathbed conversion to Christianity. I don't know the source of this claim. I would be interested to know if your research touches on this either to confirm or deny.
I will discuss this subject in the second installment of this chapter. We recently got more information on this matter from some previously unknown sources, and it fits very closely with the view of Robert Johnson I share here.
This is brilliant and medicinal. I haven't been to the Church of Coltrane yet, but it's on my list. Huge Alice Coltrane fan, v. happy to see mention of her here. Thanks for whacking down some of these goofy pop-psych cliches about Johnson & the blues in general. Can't wait to read Part II!
The phenomenon of judging in a negative way an artist's output that directly invokes spirituality is also present in one of America's greatest composers, Duke Ellington. From all accounts Duke was always a spiritual man, going back to his childhood in Washington D.C. when he would go to both his mother's and his father's Church on Sunday. Obviously, there were certain tenets of a religious life that Duke continually ignored, such as his lifelong affairs with women, but no one can contend his view of God was unimportant to him, and he showed that in his music. The spiritual theme from "Black, Brown & Beige," entitled "Come Sunday," is a masterful song that both describes the joy African-Americans found in church, and has a sonority that can evoke the transcendence of existence for even non-believers. Later, with his three sacred concerts, described by Duke himself as "the most important things I have ever done," he was able to bring his spirituality to its full display. However, for many serious scholars and fans of Ellington, his sacred music is often not held in very high regard. I have always sensed a level of discomfort, even, at the music, as if the reviewer him or herself cannot bring themselves to like the music due to its spiritual themes. They would rather think of Ellington as this mythical figure, surely not bound by the trappings of old-time religion, the composer who best put the African-American experience into music. But one cannot tell the story of the African-American experience without religion, so such views have always confused me. I find it very easy, even as a non-believer myself, to set aside the spiritual messages and focus on the music, and in my opinion there is a great deal to appreciate.
My father was from Clarksdale, his father moved the family away after the '27 flood. I worked on the Delta and saw and heard many things. It is a different kind of place.
I am a little surprised that you don't mention Elegua, the Yoruban orisha who is seen as the messenger of the crossroads. (or maybe I missed something). I think that Robert Farris Thompson may discuss this in his book Flash of the Spirit. The spiritual meeting ground at the crossroads was a concept that was deeply embedded in West African religion and mythology - and in this area of the Delta there were many elements that were retained from the Yoruban religions and practices.
Wait until part 2 of this chapter—which is coming soon. You will learn things about the Yoruban tradition in the US that you won't have heard before.
Ah yes, part two. How could I have assumed that you weren't going to address this?
It appears in the Meso-American Popul Vuh as well, the Crossroads with the Black Road to the Dark House of the lords of Xibalba. That's another tale of death and rebirth, supposedly linked to corn/maize culture. I'd be shocked if there wasn't music in some form. As Robert Burns pointed out, there is a lot of power in the place where two paths meet. On the other hand, that's also where we get the word "trivia".
Excellent! You can feel the energy of something beyond the mundane in those old blues recordings. Patton is my favorite of them and I have nearly worn out my cds of his recordings listening to them. Something ethereal crawls through those recordings and into your ears, mind and soul listening to him. I like Johnson too, but his music is harder for me to listen to for any length of time. Something is darker and more disturbing, to me at least, in his recordings, but they simply shimmer with the spirit of his muse. I am loving this book! Anyone who doesn't hear the deeply transgressive and trance-state energies of the old blues just doesn't know what they are hearing, and wouldn't know a spiritual experience if it bit them on the backside. :-)
Speaking of ethereal things slipping into recordings, while it's not exactly a blues, I offer Fats Waller's Jitterbug Waltz as an example.
Maybe it really is just me, but I have always sensed there is something unearthly, ectoplasmic even, on that recording. I've read, and find believable, that shortly before he wrote and recorded Jitterbug Waltz, Waller had been warned by a doctor that if he didn't moderate his ways ( cease being Fats Waller, in other words ), he wasn't long for this world.
The song and that first recording have always had a melancholy and wistful quality for me. But there is, and again, maybe it's just me, also a joyous quality, a "laying my burdens down and crossing over Jordan" quality. It's as if with that recording Waller was declaring he was done with this world and was not all that sorry about it, either.
A fan's take, I know, probably my version of people who used to read all sorts of imbecilic things into 60s lyrics, yet I've never been able to shake it. I haven't yet asked my pastor, who when he was in college played bass in a jazz trio, to see that Jitterbug Waltz is played/sung at my funeral ( I'd be happy to write my own lyric for it ), but I probably will.
Thanks, Ted, love your work! Have you read William Blake's "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell?" I think you'd appreciate the connection . . . Blake writes, "I tell you, no virtue can exist without breaking these ten commandments," which came to mind when you wrote "with every one of the Ten Commandments getting trampled upon."
I read Blake in my early days, and last year I decided to dig into him more deeply. I even got Northrop Fyre's book 'Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William Blake' and started studying all his symbols and mythology. But this has proven to be a much deeper matter than I anticipated. In many ways, Blake is one of the most challenging authors in the English language. He is every bit as challenging as Joyce or Gaddis or Faulkner, maybe even more so. I need to devote a lot more time to Blake before I feel a confident mastery of his worldview. For the time being, I simply enjoy him for the poetry.
I *think* he would say the Devil at The Crossroads showing the way to Transcendence is actually an Angel. Just my take.
I really enjoy Martha Redbone's album 'Martha Redbone Roots Project The Garden of Love - The Songs of William Blake'. It may be a bit off topic here but it is an interesting take on some of Blake's poetry.
It's funny you should mention that album. I picked it as my favorite record of the year back in 2012. http://tedgioia.com/bestalbumsof2012.html
I see you have Otis Taylor on that list as well. He put out a new album at Octave called 'Hey Joe Opus: Red Meat'. It's very good. Octave is putting out some very good stuff on vinyl and for download in high resolution.
Edit: My mistake. It was a high res reissue but is still very good.
https://www.psaudio.com/products/hey-joe-red-meat/
Edit: I should add a lot of the commenters on the PS Audio fora are fans of your substack. It's where I learned of it.
Wow. I'd forgotten it has been out that long. It has staying power. I listened to it while writing the first comment. The reference to Blake brought it to mind.
That is . . . really something.
I will check it out. Thanks!
This is just great. Can’t wait for more... on all this, Jason Bivins’ Spirits Rejoice is wonderful.
🙏 🙏🙏🙏 this will be transformative for many.
Those who believe the devil doesn’t exist, look at how many people kill others and themselves daily, then think about it.
It’s not just Johnson and the Blues, it’s everyone and everywhere that we each find that devil or devils or the demons, and once you have seen the horror that man does to himself and others, you will know.
Looking forward to part two.
Hi Ted. I'm torn between my enjoyment of reading this book and my frustration at having to wait a month between episodes. But I know we're getting it more quickly than if you'd had to find a conventional publisher. I'm looking forward to reading what you have to say about the Yoruba tradition. I encountered this on a trip to Cuba and was struck by its parallels to Catholicism.
Maaan, within the last week I just put up on my wall a postcard of this picture of Trane with his holy horn...! All praise Ohnedaruth...and Robert Johnson too!
Music is one of the greatest forms of worship. Incredible writing Ted.
Nicholas Payton has a sample of Dizzy saying something very similar on one of his recordings("playing music is a form of worship" , or something close to that)...I think it's on AFRO CARIBBEAN MIX TAPE...