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Crossroads
- The Life and Afterlife of Blues Legend Robert Johnson
- Narrated by: Tom Graves
- Length: 3 hrs and 45 mins
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Publisher's Summary
The result of careful and meticulous research, this stylishly-written biography of infamous blues musician Robert Johnson reveals the real story behind the mythical talent that made him a musical legend. According to some, Robert Johnson learned guitar by trading his soul away to the Devil at a crossroads in rural Mississippi. When he died at age 27 of a mysterious poisoning, many superstitious fans came to believe that the Devil had returned to take his due.
This diligent study of Johnson's life debunks these myths while emphasizing the effect that Robert Johnson, said to be the greatest blues musician who ever lived, has had on modern musicians such as Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones and fans of the blues. Tom Graves, a master of what Ernest Hemingway called "the true sentence" and the telling detail, pieces together the fragments of the jagged, elusive puzzle that is Robert Johnson.
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What listeners say about Crossroads
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- tru britty
- 07-13-15
Live fast, die young and leave a beautiful mystery
Robert Johnson recorded 59 tracks in the 1930s, of which only 42 are extant. Son House said when he first heard Johnson play he was ordinary. Very. But the young guitarist went away, came back, and his playing was so good his guitar caught on fire. Or nearly. Well, that's what you get when you sell your soul to the devil. A hot guitar and a swift end after a cup of poison, thanks to a jealous girlfriend.
There's more legend than truth in the Robert Johnson story, and even that is scant. Author Tom Graves does much with very little. He's like a detective turning over a cold case and trying to get to the root of what really happened and who was this guy anyway?
Robert Johson was one of the great country blues guitarists, singers and songwriters. But he was mostly forgotten until Columbia released a 17-track compilation in 1961. Dylan heard it. The Stones did. Clapton did. Their ears turned round their heads. This was earth-moving music.
Grave's book is not a play-by-play account of each of the 42 songs. He even saves a lot of his musical analysis for the last part. What he wants to do, and does very well, is unravel the mystery, tell us about the man and then focus on his powerful legacy.
In 1987, Claude Johnson came forward as Johnson's biological son. The guitarist had died in 1938. A lot of time had passed. The case went to court. The judge cross-examined a woman claiming to have witnessed Claude's conception. The author reproduces the court transcript, in which the judge asks his witness if she made a habit of watching people in the act. More than once, she said, and she was awful sorry the judge hadn't tried it himself.
Graves also devotes time to the photos and video that surfaced in later decades and the controversy surrounding their authenticity. He brings up the controversy over the postage stamp, too. The stamp showed a smoking bluesman. Naughty.
Crossroads is a quick listen and well worth your time if you're interested in Johnson, blues or music in general.
1 person found this helpful
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- cristopher
- 05-11-15
Great history of Johnson
Great history of the man. Not too short, not too long. Includes new references, not just the old. Great work!
1 person found this helpful
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- Hoops
- 08-02-18
Informative and well presented.
I already knew quite a lot about the early history of the blues and Robert Johnson. This book served as a useful revision. The author/ reader had an obvious love of his topic. I just wish there were more audio books on the blues.
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- Jay
- 10-10-17
Bringing the legend to life
Thoroughly enjoyed this short listen about the life and after life of Delta blues man , Robert Johnson. Tom Graves the author narrates it beautifully. It’s atmospheric , full of mystery as the story unfolds about what we know and don’t know about Robert Johnson. As a blues fan - this is essential listening. You’ll love it.
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- Smarty
- 02-11-17
Very informative in the life of Robert Johnson
Would you consider the audio edition of Crossroads to be better than the print version?
Yes the audio version is much better because you can listen to it anytime you wish to e.g.in the car
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- By: Daniel Mark Epstein
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 15 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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The Ballad of Bob Dylan is a vivid, full-bodied portrait of one of the most influential artists of the 20th-century - a man widely regarded as the most important lyricist America has ever produced. Acclaimed poet and biographer Daniel Mark Epstein frames Dylan against the backdrop of four seminal concerts - all of which he attended. Beautifully written, The Ballad of Bob Dylan is a unique, eye-opening portrait of an artist who has transformed generations and continues to inspire and surprise today.
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Excellent book, excellent narration
- By L chandler on 12-22-11
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Where the Devil Don’t Stay
- Traveling the South with the Drive-By Truckers
- By: Stephen Deusner
- Narrated by: John McLain
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1996, Patterson Hood recruited friends and fellow musicians in Athens, Georgia, to form his dream band: a group with no set lineup that specialized in rowdy rock and roll. The Drive-By Truckers, as they named themselves, grew into one of the best and most consequential rock bands of the 21st century, a great live act whose songs deliver the truth and nuance rarely bestowed on Southerners, so often reduced to stereotypes. Where the Devil Don’t Stay tells the band’s unlikely story not chronologically but geographically.
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Great book about amazing band
- By JAW on 05-30-23
By: Stephen Deusner
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Guitar
- An American Life
- By: Tim Brookes
- Narrated by: Tim Brookes
- Length: 11 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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What was it about a small, humble folk instrument that allowed it to become an American icon? The guitar represents freedom, the open road, protest and rebellion, the blues, youth, lost love, and sexuality. Tim Brookes explores with adoration these ideas and how they became entwined with the history of America.
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Amazingly, a real page-turner
- By Colin on 08-16-05
By: Tim Brookes
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Uncommon People
- The Rise and Fall of The Rock Stars
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 10 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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The age of the rock star, like the age of the cowboy, has passed. Like the cowboy, the idea of the rock star lives on in our imaginations. What did we see in them? Swagger. Recklessness. Sexual charisma. Damn-the-torpedoes self-belief. A certain way of carrying themselves. Good hair. Interesting shoes. Talent we wished we had. What did we want of them? To be larger than life but also like us. To live out their songs. To stay young forever. No wonder many didn't stay the course.
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INSIGHTFULL!
- By CLAUDIA R KENNEDY on 02-18-18
By: David Hepworth
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Never a Dull Moment
- 1971 - the Year That Rock Exploded
- By: David Hepworth
- Narrated by: David Hepworth
- Length: 11 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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On New Year's Eve, 1970, Paul McCartney told his lawyers to issue the writ at the High Court in London, effectively ending The Beatles. You might say this was the last day of the pop era. The following day, which was a Friday, was 1971. You might say this was the first day of the rock era. And within the remaining 364 days of this monumental year, the world would hear Don McLean's "American Pie", The Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar", The Who's "Baba O'Riley", Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven", and more.
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A blast from the past
- By Amazon Customer on 07-30-16
By: David Hepworth
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Thelonious Monk
- The Life and Times of an American Original
- By: Robin DG Kelley
- Narrated by: Sean Crisden
- Length: 25 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Thelonious Monk is the critically acclaimed, gripping saga of an artist's struggle to "make it" without compromising his musical vision. It is a story that, like its subject, reflects the tidal ebbs and flows of American history in the 20th century. To his fans, he was the ultimate hipster; to his detractors, he was temperamental, eccentric, taciturn, or childlike. His angular melodies and dissonant harmonies shook the jazz world to its foundations, ushering in the birth of "bebop" and establishing Monk as one of America's greatest composers.
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The definitive bio of Monk
- By ricardo on 12-27-17
By: Robin DG Kelley
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Outlaw
- Waylon, Willie, Kris, and the Renegades of Nashville
- By: Michael Streissguth
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Waylon Jennings. Willie Nelson. Kris Kristofferson. Three renegade musicians. Three unexpected stars. Three men who changed Nashville and country music forever. Streissguth's new book brings to life an incredible chapter in musical history and reveals for the first time a surprising outlaw zeitgeist in Nashville. Based on extensive research and probing interviews with key players, what emerges is a fascinating glimpse into three of the most legendary artists of our times and the definitive story of how they changed music in Nashville and everywhere.
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Revealing little-known Details does Captivate!
- By Cody Meyer on 11-20-17
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Positively 4th Street
- By: David Hajdu
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Positively 4th Street is a mesmerizing account of how four young people (Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mimi Baez Farina, and Richard Farina) gave rise to a modern-day bohemia and created the enduring sound and style of the 1960s.
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Lousy reader ruins otherwise interesting history
- By Barbara on 10-20-04
By: David Hajdu
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Bessie
- By: Chris Albertson
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 13 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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Bessie Smith, the great singer known as the "Empress of the Blues", is considered by many to be the greatest blues singer of all time. She was also a successful vaudeville entertainer who became the highest-paid African American performer of the Roaring '20s. Chris Albertson's revised and expanded edition of the biography of this extraordinary artist debunks many of the myths that have circulated since her untimely death in 1937.
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First-rate bio of a first-rate blues legend
- By tru britty on 07-07-15
By: Chris Albertson
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Homeward Bound
- The Life of Paul Simon
- By: Peter Ames Carlin
- Narrated by: Adam Grupper
- Length: 18 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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To have been alive during the last 60 years is to have lived with the music of Paul Simon. The boy from Queens scored his first hit record in 1957, just months after Elvis Presley ignited the rock era. As the songwriting half of Simon & Garfunkel, his work helped define the youth movement of the '60s. On his own in the '70s, Simon made radio-dominating hits. He kicked off the '80s by reuniting with Garfunkel to perform for half a million New Yorkers in Central Park. Five years later Simon's album Graceland sold millions. And it doesn't stop there.
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Now I Know
- By KellysHero718 on 11-01-16
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The Grand Tour
- The Life and Music of George Jones
- By: Rich Kienzle
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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In a masterful biography laden with new revelations, veteran country music journalist/historian Rich Kienzle offers a definitive, full-bodied portrait of legendary country singer George Jones and the music that remains his legacy. Kienzle meticulously sifted through archival material, government records, and recollections by colleagues and admirers, interviewing many involved in Jones' life and career. The result: an evocative portrait of this enormously gifted, tragically tormented icon.
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Interesting story, bad reading
- By Amazon Customer on 05-12-16
By: Rich Kienzle
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1965
- The Most Revolutionary Year in Music
- By: Andrew Grant Jackson
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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During 12 unforgettable months in the middle of the turbulent '60s, America saw the rise of innovative new sounds that would change popular music as we knew it. In 1965: The Most Revolutionary Year in Music, music historian Andrew Grant Jackson (Still the Greatest: The Essential Songs of The Beatles' Solo Careers) chronicles a groundbreaking year of creativity fueled by rivalries between musicians and continents, sweeping social changes, and technological breakthroughs.
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Seems like a good overview
- By wylie smith on 01-12-23
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Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?
- Larry Norman and the Perils of Christian Rock
- By: Gregory Alan Thornbury
- Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne
- Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1969, in Capitol Records' Hollywood studio, a blonde-haired troubadour named Larry Norman laid track for an album that would launch a new genre of music and one of the strangest, most interesting careers in modern rock. Having spent the bulk of the 1960s playing on bills with acts like The Who, Janis Joplin, and The Doors, Norman decided that he wanted to sing about the most countercultural subject of all: Jesus.
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Hagiography not Biography
- By Keith Howard on 10-29-18