Question 1

True or false: Johnson died at age 27, making him one of the earliest members of the '27 Club'.

Accepted Answer

True. He was poisoned in 1938 at age 27, predating later members like Hendrix, Joplin, and Cobain.

Question 2

True or false: Robert Johnson recorded only 29 songs during his lifetime.

Accepted Answer

True. Johnson recorded 29 unique songs across two sessions in 1936 and 1937, all of which survive today.

Question 3

True or false: Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil at a Mississippi crossroads to gain guitar skills.

Accepted Answer

False. This is a famous myth popularized by blues lore, but no historical evidence supports a literal pact—it's a symbolic story.

Question 4

True or false: Johnson never performed outside the American South during his lifetime.

Accepted Answer

True. He traveled extensively through the South and Midwest, but never toured internationally or in the North before his death.

Question 5

True or false: Robert Johnson influenced Eric Clapton, who called him 'the most important blues musician who ever lived'.

Accepted Answer

False. Clapton actually called Johnson 'the most important blues singer'—but the quote misattributed 'musician' is a common exaggeration.

Question 6

True or false: Robert Johnson's grave site is officially marked, but there are actually three different claimed locations.

Accepted Answer

True. Three markers exist—near Greenwood, MS—due to conflicting accounts of his burial, with no definitive original record.

Question 7

True or false: Robert Johnson was a classically trained pianist who switched to guitar later in life.

Accepted Answer

False. Johnson was a self-taught guitarist; there's no record of classical training, and he learned from older bluesmen like Son House.

Question 8

True or false: Johnson's song 'Cross Road Blues' was the first blues recording inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Accepted Answer

False. While iconic, the first blues Grammy Hall of Fame inductee was actually 'The Thrill Is Gone' by B.B. King in 1998.

Robert Johnson Trivia Questions