Topic: The Robert Johnson "Biography of a phantom" by Mack Mccormick

[Blues Vintage]

Thanks lindy, but I can't read it 'cause I don't have acces. For anyone who can, is there groundbreaking info in the article?

[Blues Vintage]

Meanwhile somebody send me the article, thank you.

[David Kaatz]

This link is a 'gift' version:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/17/books/mack-mccormick-robert-johnson-biography.html?unlocked_article_code=C3cuhxoRi34ExnG68TBCuH3oiFjCwoYYge2_sCmGD3QklGpUJp8ck5sOPx38cYb41HuZh2dOW7c21FjdTcLqxVXCxlSGdpqplZAUC6uYpoOA-craToFUW2ppD7tADPL_lh5AP2E9XkKT6RQDnLFDPDy_mEiWQEnJNXXoYdVnUnY9A6h3i0ajWTPV30E2M1B3uFHo7oG14_yYaH8-d1RivbDcsIVI-FxbwGLNdNR4jBd_RV7IzQ4I_wCw7n6DLaOq2MQDP9peQfc6MoBNVdPTcHV_lpv1LSEZT7Qh0L5W0czMLi_kEkf_GDeveTYhGDHAOi_4HoPHgiwGyPpBxwRE69b6vZXfPlzwmKiTUmVXDII&giftCopy=3_Independent&smid=url-share

[lindy]

Blues Vintage, I just now saw your request. David, thanks for forwarding that link.

L

[txbluesproject]

The book is out. It is immensely readable and confounding at the same time. The foreword and afterword are as essential as the main text. This NOT a biography of Johnson so much as a travelogue of McCormicks's "adventures" in finding more information on Johnson and his family. It is a troubling text in light of what has been revealed about McCormick's mental health and how he may have acquired certain information. There is no photograph, new or otherwise, of Johnson. There is no mention of an unheard recording and many rumors are dispelled.

[Suzy T]

I loved reading it. For me, it was more like reading a fiction book and when I approached it that way, it was so enjoyable - I got a real sense of a place, and of people too. And most especially of Mack.  Or, perhaps I should say, of "a certain Mack which might actually be a fictional Mack". 
I never met him but I heard so much about him from Chris Strachwitz that I feel like I knew him a bit, or at least a lot about him. 
Highly recommend as a quick easy read, don't take it too literally though!!!