The Club No One Wanted to Join, a Musical Mystery

by Drew Holmes

Bob was at a crossroads.

His stepfather had moved his large family to Memphis from Mississippi after a run in with a lynch mob. The family was well off financially, as his stepfather was a landlord and furniture maker, but all the same it was time to leave. The ensuing decade was a happy one, and Bob attended school where he learned reading, math, geography, and music. It was there that he fell in love with popular and blues music and that experience would later set him apart from other blues musicians who had not spent time in big cities. His mother remarried, this time to a sharecropper, and he followed her to Arkansas where despite his lowered social status he continued his studies.

Not yet 20 years old, he married and settled into the life of a farmer and soon to be family man. That was not his fate, as soon after tragedy struck, and he lost his wife in childbirth. Some said it was divine punishment for singing secular songs, but for Bob it only steeled his resolve to become a great musician.

He made his choice and hit the road. When he arrived in a new town, he would play street corners or in front of barbershops. He never had trouble finding clubs that would let him in, as he played not only blues but also covered the pop music of the day.

Bob would stay with extended family, female friends, or whichever woman was willing to take him home after that night’s gig. He would use different names in different locations, so none of these women were aware of anything else he was up to. Those who knew him described him as a nice guy, average except for his appetite for women and whiskey, dedication to the road, and exceptional musical talent.

Over a seven-month span in 1936–37, Bob hit the recording studio, the only sessions he would ever have. Multiple takes of the same songs survived, which has allowed a rare peek into his musical genius. Unlike most Delta blues musicians, he would compose his music to fit within the three-minute limitations of the recordings. It was in these sessions he recorded “Sweet Home Chicago” and “Cross Road Blues”, both of which have become blues standards. In the end, his entire discography encompassed just twenty-nine tracks.

Bob’s brief career ended abruptly well before his 30th birthday. No one knows for certain how he died, but one legend says he drank whiskey from a bottle that was poisoned by the husband of a woman he was flirting with at one of his performances. Another theory was that he had syphilis. Regardless of which vice was ultimately responsible for his demise, Bob lived fast and died young.

Which brings us back to that fateful night when Bob decided to leave family and farming and dedicate himself to music. Until then he had been known as a decent harmonica player and singer, but his guitar playing lagged far behind. Almost overnight he became a master of Delta blues, leading some people to speculate that his talent was unnatural and the result of some unholy bargain.

Though Bob’s discography was small, his innovative guitar technique and songwriting have inspired musicians for over a century. Eric Clapton called him “the most influential blues singer who ever lived”. Upon hearing a recording of him, Keith Richards was astounded to learn that it was just one guitar, since he “was an orchestra by himself”. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has dubbed him “The First Ever Rock Star”.

At the end of his brief life, Bob unintentionally founded a club. Not one for performing, like the countless ones he gigged in, but one many musicians are also unfortunate members of. Members include greats like Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, and Kurt Cobain. An infamous club whose only requirement for membership is to have the bright light of a promising career snuffed out far too soon. A club named for the age at which its members died far too young. The 27 Club, founded in 1938 by a performer who gave his soul to his music. A blues legend named Robert Johnson.