15 Comments

  1. Great interview. I was lucky enough to have a vinyl copy of King of the Delta Blues Singers Vol 1 & 2 when I was coming up, saw Johnny Shines and Robert Jr. Lockwood in the 70’s and am thrilled to have this new pic. Look at those fingers ! Thank you so much for bringing this to light. I’m not sure if I would have found out in time to catch Vanity Fair while it was still on the newstand. Nice to know some young folks are still interested.

  2. Robert Coalson

    Is there any way to find out what Honeyboy Edwards thinks of this picture? He knew both Johnson and Shines…. I’d certainly be very interested to hear what he has to say about it.

  3. Stuartink

    Zeke is a man blessed with an honest and natural integrity. He is the quiet soul that the hand of legacy would pass such a document from one generation to another and the voice that would speak of both the sin and redemption that is America and her Blues. We are certainly at a crossroads now so thanks Zeke for keepimg a keen eye out for the sign posts that keep our path honest and true.

  4. What a great interview, nice & laid back…
    Great to hear John Campbell & Chris Whitley back to back playing their Nationals!
    Thanks for the mention from Zeke and thanks for including my version of Ramblin’ on my Mind from an old cassette from 92’…
    (I knew that thing would haunt me someday)
    Peace,
    BK

  5. Mike

    The photo is fake.

    Look at where the shoulders of the 2 men meet, and trace down from the shoulder to “RJ’s” hand, then to his forearm.

    This is pure collage. The lighting is different in the 2 zones. Completely different.

    You can even see the difference, in the form of a horizontal line of different backgrounds travelling from the tip of “Shine’s” hat down to the shoulder area of the 2 men.

    It’s great that people love RJ, but sad that they perpetrate these hoaxes.

  6. Mike

    All you need to do is look at the area in the above picture, right above the O and the C (of VF.COM).

    This area shows a forearm (black suit) overlapping a shoulder area in the background (white suit)

    Very obvious, and very poorly executed collage work.

    Don’t get me wrong, nothing against someone who might have purchased this “picture” on ebay.

  7. I am one of the signators to this article by Dr. Bruce Conforth.
    There is NO doubt in my mind that this is in no way a depiction of either Robert Johnson or Johnny Shines.
    It is a photo of two lads with a gag guitar in the photo booth looking cool.
    Nothing more.

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