Vanity Fair has a new must read article about the possibility of a third photo of the legendary and photo-elusive Robert Johnson being discovered. The new photo shows what may be Robert Johnson (left) posing with fellow itinerant blues kid Johnny Shines (right) who was known to have traveled and "cut heads" (a blues busking competition to draw crowds) with RJ. It should be noted that Shines had stated on record years ago (before the photo surfaced) that he and RJ had once posed for a photo while traveling through the juke joints of Arkansas.
I spent 10 minutes (okay, more, but I don't want to come across as super-geeky) looking at the two known photos and this third photo, and I must say...it looks very much like RJ to me. RJ's long spidery fingers are as distinctive as any feature, his downturned lip and his glaucoma damaged left eye all match up nicely. And then if you look at the parlor shot of RJ (the bottom photo) and compare the tie to that in the newly discovered photo, dang if it doesn't look to be the same. Read the linked article, it is very well written.
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