In Chronicles Bob Dylan wrote "When Johnson started singing, he seemed like a guy who could have sprung from the head of Zeus in full armor. I immediately differentiated between him and anyone else I had ever heard. The songs weren't customary blues songs. They were so utterly fluid. At first they went by quick, too quick to even get. They jumped all over the place in range and subject matter, short punchy verses that resulted in some panoramic story-fires of mankind blasting off the surface of this spinning piece of plastic."
Other items in the auction include the group of original posters created by Wes Wilson for the Filmore concerts which brought many Chicago blues musicians to a West coast white audience in the mid-1960s.
The Howling Wolf poster is particularly interesting, not only for the wolf…but as the concert was cancelled. Also quite lovely is the original period photograph of Sister Rosetta Tharpe which is accompanied with a signed "God Bless You" and signature.
The auction website is HERE and will be held April 27, 2014 in Buford, GA. As is usual for the auction house, a good group of Southern Folk Art and Self-taught art is on the block.
