Up Jumped the Devil

The Real Life of Robert Johnson

By: Bruce Conforth, Gayle Dean Wardlow

Narrated by: Leon Nixon

Robert Johnson is the subject of the most famous myth about the blues: he allegedly sold his soul at the crossroads in exchange for his incredible talent, and this deal led to his death at age 27. But the actual story of his life remains unknown save for a few inaccurate anecdotes.

Up Jumped the Devil is the result of over 50 years of research. Gayle Dean Wardlow has been interviewing people who knew Robert Johnson since the early 1960s, and he was the person who discovered Johnson's death certificate in 1967. Bruce Conforth began his study of Johnson's life and music in 1970 and made it his mission to fill in what was still unknown about him. In this definitive biography, the two authors relied on every interview, resource, and document, most of it material no one has seen before. As a result, this book not only destroys every myth that ever surrounded Johnson, but also tells a human story of a real person. It is the first book about Johnson that documents his years in Memphis, details his trip to New York, uncovers where and when his wife Virginia died and the impact this had on him, fully portrays the other women Johnson was involved with, and tells exactly how and why he died and who gave him the poison that killed him. Up Jumped the Devil will astonish blues fans who thought they knew something about Johnson.

©2019 Bruce Conforth and Gayle Dean Wardlow (P)2019 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Amazing

This answers so many questions about Johnson's life and adds understanding to his records. It would have been better with musical examples, so grab a copy of the box set to follow along in the chapters about the recordings in Texas. Like another listener, I felt that though the reader had a good vibe, his pace was plodding and I had to crank him up to 1.25X.

Awesome

This book is so complete and compelling. Gives a full story of an American musical genius and legend.

Well done and presented

An interesting view on the life of someone that we know very little about. Enjoyable.

Excellent book

This was an excellent factual book regarding the life and death of the late great Robert Johnson. Not theory’s or rumors but facts taken from original sources.
Fantastic book!!!

Excellent informative empathetic story

Brings Johnson to life in a way that helps enrich his music. I hear his music in ways I didn't before, thank you for giving Robert his life back.

very informative and entertaining

I loved it. I enjoyed the narrator's reading of the book immensely. I just wish it didn't have to end. there are lots of theories and legends about Robert Johnson and I felt like this book cleared up most of the mysteries. at least if we don't know for sure about certain facts (which we don't), the author made that clear rather than trying to put forth speculation as fact.

A must read

I knew some of the history of Robert Johnson. This book goes into the details of the great blues musicians short life. A definite must read for a fan of Delta Blues.

Whoever loves music should read/listen to this.

I have gone through and loved many genres of music in my 40 years on this pale blue dot, but the blues... As Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones once said "The only good thing America has gave to the world is the Blues."
I think this book is a must-read for anyone who loves music and especially anyone who loves the blues.
I want to thank the author and the person who read it aloud and the people who put it together to be in audiobook format where I could enjoy this. Thank you.
Robert Johnson has forever changed the landscape of music it will always be one of my heroes.

Must listen for blues fans

I have gone most of My adult life being a huge Robert Johnson fan. I was always under the impression that nothing was known about him. Most of what I knew about him Came from the movie Crossroads and a handful of light documentaries.

Enter this book. Many hours of details stitched together wonderfully. The information seemed credible and it provided great context for the music that I know so well and love so much. I particularly liked the break down of the lyrics that I never put much thought into.

My only hang up was the narration. Wow. Can you say boring? I sped it up to 1.25 and that made it tolerable.

The unexplained life of Robert Johnson

although extensively researched and very well written, this is another book that seems to have a lot of inaccuracies and myth building stories embedded in it. I think at this time it would be impossible to truly tell the story of the life of Robert Johnson. We have his music and we have all the books that have been written about him, and if we combine all the stories, we can come up with a fuzzy picture of his life. For its technical research and information, this book is highly recommended.