No less an authority than Eric Clapton once called him "the most important blues musician who ever lived." Blues artists such as Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, and David "Honeyboy" Edwards were influenced by this guitarist, as were blues-rockers like Clapton, Peter Green, and the Rolling Stones. We're talking about, of course, the great enigma of blues music, Robert Johnson.

The good folks over at The Delta Blues blog turned us on to an interesting story in a recent issue of Vanity Fair magazine. As any fervent blues music fan knows, there are only two photos of Robert Johnson that have been revealed to the public…one taken by the Hooks Bros. photography studio in Memphis and used on the cover of Johnson's The Complete Recordings collection, and a so-called "photo booth" self-portrait of Johnson. Recently, however, vintage guitar expert Steven "Zeke" Schein discovered – on eBay of all places – what he believes to be a third photo of Robert Johnson, showing the mysterious bluesman standing alongside his protégé and traveling partner, Johnny Shines.

Frank Digiacomo's excellent Vanity Fair piece goes beyond Schein's resurrection of the photo (which cost him around $2,200, by the way) into the history of the first two Johnson photos, the phonographic collections released by Columbia Records, and the legal morass that surrounds the bluesman's estate, the rights to his images and recordings, and the ongoing battle to control the history of one of the most influential bluesmen, ever. It's a fascinating story, well-written and researched, and it sheds a little more light on the near-mythological past of bluesman Robert Johnson.

Photo courtesy of Price Grabber

Moreland & Arbuckle will be among the blues artists traveling to Iraq and Kuwait later this month for the second Bluzapalooza tour to entertain members of the military. Created by blues producers Steve Simon and John Hahn and presented by Armed Forces Entertainment, the 12-day tour will feature performances by such blues musicians as Shemekia Copeland, guitarist Michael Burks, Deanna Bogart, Zac Harmon, and Tony Braunagel and the Bluzapalooza All-Star Band along with the Kansas blues-rock trio.

"Aaron and I are deeply honored to be performing on the upcoming Bluzapalooza tour," says Dustin Arbuckle in an email to About.com Blues. "An opportunity like this doesn’t come along everyday. It’s a wonderful thing to be able to travel halfway around the world, to a place unlike any other we’ve ever seen, and bring a bit of home to the men and women serving in our military."

"For me, this holds a deep personal significance," continues Arbuckle. "There are several of my loved ones who have, at one point or another through the years, served overseas. My dad fought in Vietnam and all of his brothers were in the military at different times during the 1950s and 60s. More recently, one of my closest friends has served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Over the years, hearing their accounts of the things they experienced has left a strong impression on me."

"This tour is bound to be a once in a lifetime experience and we couldn’t be happier to be a part of it," concludes Aaron Moreland. "Music can bring happiness into peoples’ lives like almost nothing else. Hopefully that’s exactly what we can accomplish here." Moreland & Arbuckle are joining the tour in the wake of the band's successful Northern Blues Music album, 1861. The historic Bluzapalooza tour will be documented by renowned New York photographer Joseph A. Rosen, a recipient of the “Keeping the Blues Alive” award in photography from The Blues Foundation.

The tour is being sponsored by The Blues Foundation, Blues Revue Magazine, and blues music-related labels like Northern Blues Music, Alligator Records, Delta Groove Records, Blind Pig Records, Telarc Records, and Ruf Records as well as Blind Raccoon and Hohner Harmonicas. Check out the Bluzapalooza MySpace page for further details.

Photo courtesy of Blind Racoon

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Blues fans in the New Orleans area, mark your calendars for next Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 because the documentary film Toot Blues will be receiving its premiere screening at the New Orleans Film Festival.

Toot Blues is the story of Tim Duffy and the Music Maker Relief Foundation (MMRF). For those who don't know, Duffy and the MMRF have done wonderful things since the organization's founding in 1994, helping promote blues music by supporting forgotten blues artists with necessary living and medical expenses. MMRF has also brought many Piedmont-area blues musicians into the studio to record, often for the first time, capturing their songs on tape before they're lost to history.

Toots Blues includes footage of early Music Maker artists like Guitar Gabriel, Cootie Stark, and Willa Mae "The Snake Lady" Buckner, as well as current performers like Captain Luke and Macavine Hayes, who are shown touring Europe and South America. Woven throughout the film is the story of the Music Maker Relief Foundation which, for my money, has done more for blues musicians than any other organization.

The film will screen at 5:15 PM on Wednesday evening at the Prytania Theatre. An after-show party will be held at Checkpoint Charlie's at 10:00 PM and will feature performances from Little Freddie King, Alabama Slim, and Slewfoot; best of all, admission to the after-show blow-out is FREE! For more information on the Music Maker Relief Foundation, check out the organization's website.

Photo courtesy Music Maker Relief Foundation

If you're in the Clarksdale, Mississippi area this Saturday night, be sure to drop by the Delta Cinema to catch the worldwide premiere of M For Mississippi, a documentary film said to capture the "raw, raucous spirit of Mississippi's surviving blues scene." Subtitled "A Road Trip through the Birthplace of the Blues," M For Mississippi follows producers Roger Stolle of Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art and Jeff Konkel of Broke & Hungry Records as they travel across the state and visit a dozen of Mississippi's remaining blues artists.

"We planned this road-trip movie for two years," Roger Stolle says in an email to About.com Blues. "We avoided big concert stages and rock star narrators in favor of intimate house parties and rockin' Delta juke joints. The results speak for themselves." The 94-minute film was made by director Damien Blaylock and features such seminal contemporary Mississippi blues artists as James "T-Model" Ford, Robert "Wolfman" Belfour, Robert "Bilbo" Walker, and others. "We aimed to capture the essence of the Delta's blues survivors and show why the blues simply had to come from a place like Mississippi," writes Jeff Konkel.

The premiere screening of M For Mississippi will take place at 6:45 PM at the Delta Cinema on Saturday night, October 11, 2008. Prior to the film, blues guitarist Bill Abel and harp player "Cadillac" John Nolden will perform a short set at 6:00 PM at the theater. After the showing of the film, the world-famous Ground Zero Blues Club will light up the Delta night sky with performances from T-Model Ford, Bilbo Walker, and Wesley "Junebug" Jefferson. The Arkansas Blues & Heritage Festival will be rocking on the other side of the river in Helena this weekend, a short jump away from Clarksdale if festival-goers want to catch the film and party at Ground Zero.

M For Mississippi will be released on DVD this fall, along with an accompanying CD soundtrack. Pre-orders for this important documentary are currently being taken through the film's official website. The DVD includes bonus features, including deleted and extended scenes, behind-the-scenes footage, and more. The film's Clarksdale premiere is being sponsored by the Delta Music Experience.

Photo courtesy Roger Stolle, Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art

Preview the film! Visit our M For Mississippi photo gallery