The Death of Robert Johnson

Robert Johnson died of what was probably poisoning, probably poisoned by the jealous partner of a woman he'd been interested in. In Harlem, Johnson met another musician who invited him to play his electric guitar. But after trying it, Johnson said he couldn't make it sing like he wanted and preferred his acoustic. Given the location and the small number of people playing electric guitar in late 1937 and early 1938, it seems fairly likely that this other musician, whose name Shines didn't get, was Charlie Christian. It's rather sad to think that if he had only known it, John Hammond, who knew Christian, could have met Johnson that night. And Johnson's subsequent life could have been very different