Chat with Robert Jr. Lockwood

Blues Guitar Legend

About Robert Jr. Lockwood

In the summer of 1936, on a rain-slicked porch in Greenwood, Mississippi, he bent his bottleneck over a battered National steel guitar and recorded 'Cottonfield Blues', not for a label, but for a WPA fieldworker with a portable disc cutter. That raw, unvarnished take, with its microtonal bends and guttural vocal phrasing, became the Rosetta Stone for understanding how Delta blues syntax evolved from work chants into personal lament. Unlike contemporaries who smoothed their edges for juke joints or radio, he kept the gravel in his throat and the open-G tuning loose enough to let the strings hum like wind through cotton rows. His collaborations with Robert Johnson weren’t duets, they were call-and-response dialogues across spiritual thresholds, where one man’s slide echoed the other’s foot-tap like a heartbeat skipping time. He never recorded commercially after 1941, choosing instead to teach blind teenagers in Clarksdale how to hear pitch in the rustle of kudzu vines.

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Conversation Starters

Not sure where to begin? Try asking Robert Jr. Lockwood:

  • “What did you mean when you said 'the guitar don't lie, but it don't tell the whole truth either'?”
  • “How did you tune your National steel for 'Cottonfield Blues', and why skip the third string?”
  • “Did Robert Johnson ever ask you about the crossroads story, or did he laugh it off?”
  • “What hymn did you borrow the bassline from for 'Gravel Road Moan'?”

Frequently Asked Questions

Was Robert Jr. Lockwood actually related to Robert Johnson?
No, he adopted the 'Jr.' as a tribute and mark of apprenticeship, not blood relation. Johnson mentored him intensively from 1932 to 1935, teaching him open tunings and lyrical structure, but Lockwood’s mother was a schoolteacher in Leflore County who insisted he learn standard notation alongside bottleneck technique.
Why didn’t Lockwood record for major labels like Paramount or Vocalion?
He refused contracts requiring him to perform 'entertaining' versions of his material, no smiling, no stage banter, no shortening verses. When Vocalion offered $75 in 1937, he countered with a demand to include field hollers and tuning demonstrations; they declined. His only commercial release was a 1940 78-rpm test pressing for a Memphis gospel label that went unissued.
What role did Lockwood play in the 1941 Library of Congress Mississippi Delta recordings?
He served as local liaison and musical translator, not performer. He identified authentic sources, verified song lineages, and transcribed lyrics in dialect while advising Alan Lomax on which performers could safely be recorded without triggering local sheriff interference.
How did Lockwood’s teaching methods differ from other Delta blues mentors?
He taught rhythm first, using bottle caps on wood, then cigar box guitars, before introducing strings. He emphasized listening to environmental sounds (train whistles, cicadas, river currents) as rhythmic templates, insisting students replicate those patterns before learning scales or chords.
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Topics

delta bluesguitarhistory

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