8 /10 Born For Blues
Robert’s tumultuous life and his split family propelled him to succeed in his education and attempt to start his own family.
Unfortunately, his first marriage ended when his wife died in childbirth in 1929, shortly after getting married.
This was thought to be a divine punishment on Robert for daring to sing songs that didn’t fit hymnal scriptures.
That he’d “sold his soul to the devil” to play secular music. Rather than repent or deny it, Robert decided to embrace the idiom and turned his back to his community to be a blues musician.
7 /10 The Devil's Apprentices
Robert wasn’t the only one inspired to take up the dark mantle of a devilish blues player. Isaiah “Ike” Zimmerman was rumored to have learned to play guitar by practicing in graveyards, which somehow likened his skills to the supernatural. Robert’s learned skill seemed similarly unique.
He was terrible at the guitar at first. Still, after briefly relocating and seeking out the legends that came before him, he returned to the scene as a guitar master, much to the suspicion of then-famous musicians such as Son House and Willie Brown.