Elijah Wald and Preston Lauterbach interview Jim O'Neal, founding editor of Living Blues magazine and the research director of the Mississippi Blues Trail. Jim tells of crossing paths with Robert Johnson's memory during his long career as a journalist in Chicago and Mississippi. He shares audio of a 1980 interview with a musician named James Banist…

Elijah Wald and Preston Lauterbach compare and contrast B.B. King and Robert Johnson and discuss the surprising link between the two very different artists in light of a new biography of King. They revisit the great Honeyboy Edwards and his enthralling memoir The World Don't Owe Me Nothing and debate the history of Robert Johnson's murder. Later, t…

Elijah Wald and Preston Lauterbach discuss the most irritating myth associated with Robert Johnson and conclude that the deal with the devil at the crossroads is not it. They do, however, shed light on the importance of the crossroads to Robert Johnson, and it's not what you think. The featured guest is Larry Cohn, producer of Robert Johnson: The C…

Elijah Wald and Preston Lauterbach interview Peter Guralnick, author of Searching for Robert Johnson. Peter discusses the impact of Robert Johnson on artists Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, whom he knew, as well as his relationship with the enigmatic blues researcher Mack McCormick. You can jump to the interview at around the 9:30 mark. Elijah and P…

In our debut episode, Elijah and Preston debate Robert Johnson's greatness and interview the last living person who knew Johnson well, revealing what became of a holy grail of American music: Robert Johnson's guitar. Mrs. Annye C. Anderson, author of the memoir Brother Robert, about growing up with Johnson in Memphis, makes a few revelations about …