The Third Picture

The Third Picture

Only two verified pictures have been found of the blues man. However, Niloh claims to now possess a third, “well kept, easily identifiable” image — a picture of Johnson and his wife Deveraux standing in front of a screen door, (Johnson’s famous guitar is not in the picture). The picture, possibly a wedding or anniversary photo, belongs to 81 year old Samantha Phillips, the sister of the late Deveraux, who passed away in 1981. She never remarried.

The stunning find ignites the search for another widely sought-after and elusive discovery: Johnson’s previously unknown recorded music. According to Phillips, Johnson had left briefly “to make recordings” during his marriage to Deveraux. While she did not possess a copy of the album, nor could she recall the location of his recordings, the mere mention of the existence of more recordings could set off a gold rush to find the priceless records.

While searching for a census record, The pair of researchers stumbled upon a 1960 Tunica county record bearing the name “Robert Spencer”, a surname Johnson had at one time identified himself by. After following up on the record, they discovered a marriage certificate to Deveraux (nearly 20 years Robert’s junior) under Johnson’s real name. After an exhaustive search, they were able to identify a living witnesses to the marriage, Deveraux’s sister. She described Johnson in detail, including his stunning guitar capabilities, and readily identified Johnson when shown his famous “photo booth” picture. Interestingly, while Johnson is perhaps the most well known blues player to have lived, according to Rewald, Phillips claimed that Johnson was known for his ability to play a wide range of music, including gospel, bluegrass, and popular radio ballads. According to Phillips, he was known in the surrounding area by his stage name “Dusty Robert”, though he rarely traveled beyond Tunica.

The name Robert Johnson was fairly common. However, according to Niloh, Phillips provided several details that should help identify the Robert Johnson in question as the “real” Robert Johnson, including the town of his birth, Hazelhurst, Mississippi. Phillips says Johnson never knew of his widespread fame, even during the resurgence of his music’s popularity in the 1960s, over 30 years after his original recording.