A Good Article On Robert Johnson’s Grave Site – Atlas Obscura -23 October 2019

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A good article on Robert Johnson’s reputed grave sites has been published  on the Atlas Obscura website.

The author, Matthew Taub, contacted MississippiBluesTravellers.com by email with a request for information about Robert Johnson’s grave sites. We put him onto T. DeWayne Moore of the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund and Gayle Dean Wardlow, who found Robert Johnson’s death certificate in the Leflore County archives in the 1970’s.

Here is a link to the resulting article on the Atlas Obscura website. We think it came out well.

If you want to see the reputed Robert Johnson grave sites for yourself, here are links to more information:

Mississippi Blues Trail marker for Robert Johnson, Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church, Money Road, Leflore County, Mississippi
Mississippi Blues Trail marker for Robert Johnson, Little Zion Missionary Baptist Church, Money Road, Leflore County, Mississippi
Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church cemetery and its reputed Robert Johnson grave, Morgan City, Leflore County, Mississippi
Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church cemetery and its reputed Robert Johnson grave, Morgan City, Leflore County, Mississippi
Payne Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, Quito, Leflore County, Mississippi, site of one of three reputed Robert Johnson graves,
Payne Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, Quito, Leflore County, Mississippi, site of one of three reputed Robert Johnson graves,

Here is our current Recommended Recording of the Complete Robert Johnson:

CD cover, Robert Johnson - The Complete Recordings. This is the edition we are currently recommending.
CD cover, Robert Johnson – The Complete Recordings. This is the edition we are currently recommending.

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Update From T. DeWayne Moore On Ralph Lembo And His Historical Reputation

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Ralph Lembo was a store owner and music promoter during the 1920’s and 1930’s in Leflore County, Mississippi who obtained recording contracts for musicians like Bukka White and Rube Lacey.

Ralph Lembo’s store in Itta Bena, Leflore County, Mississippi is still standing at 114 Humphreys Street in downtown Itta Bena.

The former Ralph Lembo store, Humphreys Street, Itta Bena, Leflore County, Mississippi
The former Ralph Lembo store, 114 Humphreys Street, Itta Bena, Leflore County, Mississippi

Ralph Lembo’s historical reputation has been tarnished through articles by blues historians, including Gayle Dean Wardlow and Ed Komara, who wrote that musicians considered Ralph Lembo untrustworthy. Gayle Dean Wardlow has written that Charley Patton refused to work with Ralph Lembo because he considered Lembo untrustworthy.

New research by T. DeWayne Moore of the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund suggests that Ralph Lembo’s posthumous reputation has been tarnished unfairly and the criticism of Ralph Lembo as being untrustworthy is itself untrustworthy.

For more on this, here is a link to T. DeWayne Moore’s latest article on Ralph Lembo, published in July 2019.

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1924 Paramount Records Advertisement For Ma Rainey’s Mystery Record

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Researchers at Mt. Zion Memorial Fund recently came across this 1924 advertisement for Ma Rainey recordings on Paramount Records, which originally appeared in the New York Age newspaper.

Paramount Records invited fans to send in their suggestion for the name of Ma Rainey’s “Mystery Record“, (Paramount 12200) and offered 100 prizes for respondents.

A 1924 advertisement for Ma Rainey recordings in the New York Age. (Courtesy of Mt. Zion Memorial Fund)
A 1924 advertisement for Ma Rainey recordings in the New York Age. (Courtesy of Mt. Zion Memorial Fund)

Our thanks to the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund for putting us onto this advertisement.

Here is a YouTube recording of Ma Rainey’s Mystery Record:


Here is our Recommended Recording for Ma Rainey on CD:

CD cover, Ma Rainey, Mother of the Blues, a 5 CD box set released onJSP Records.
CD cover, Ma Rainey, Mother of the Blues, a 5 CD box set released on JSP Records.

 

Two Organizations Placing Markers On Blues Musicians’ Graves

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There are two reputable organizations we are aware of which are placing markers on Blues Musicians’ Graves, often on unmarked graves.

One is the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund; the other is The Killer Blues Headstone Project.

Here is a video about The Killer Blues Headstone Project.

Here are a few of the grave stones placed by the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund which we have visited:

Memphis Minnie, New Hope Missionary Baptist Church, Walls, Mississippi

Memphis Minnie grave, Walls, Mississippi
Memphis Minnie grave, Walls, Mississippi

Mississippi Fred McDowell, Hammond Hill Missionary Baptist Church, Como, Panola County, Mississippi

Mississippi Fred McDowell's grave, near Como, Panola County, Mississippi
Mississippi Fred McDowell’s grave, near Como, Panola County, Mississippi

Click these links to see a list of the gravestones placed by The Killer Blues Headstone Project and by the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund.

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