o the next town or if he was simply chased out by a husband returning home. According to his traveling partner Shines, many of these women were of older age than Robert. Robert preferred the older women because they would gladly pay for the expenses of traveling. Accounts from these women describe Robert as shy, polite, yet direct. He would talk to them in quite, simple statements such as " May I come home with you", or "May I be with you." (Guralnick 25) It is within these remote homes where Johnson would awake in the middle of the night to practice and perfect his music. A former girlfriend recalls how she snuck through the hallway to catch a glimpse of Robert silently fingering and strumming the guitar. He never let anyone see him practice, as if hiding some kind of secret only to be enjoyed by himself. Much of the reason little is known about the life of Robert Johnson is due to his nomadic lifestyle, traveling from home to home and never quite settling down. Robert never quite formed any solid relationships with people, always keeping a shadowy distance. The world of which Robert was part of was based almost solely around verbal communication, with very little documentation, thus adding to the mystery surrounding Robert. Yet, one very permanent part of Johnson has survived and is still with us today, his recordings. "His voice still rings out over the scratchy records of the twenties like a rooster crowing before day, and his guitar, tuned in the Neo-African styles of his tunes, is as subtle as moonlight on the Mississippi" (Lomax 13). Robert Johnson began his recording career in the "roaring days of the ‘race’ record business" (Lomax 13). This period, which took place during the twenties and thirties, was a period when millions of blues records were sold. Robert Johnson records rest upon the record selves with the likes of several other famous blues artist of the time, Charlie Patton, Blind Lemon Jeffers...
