This article is a few years old now but I found it fascinating.
If you haven't seen this, it discusses what is apparently a third photo of Robert Johnson posing with fellow bluesman Johnny Shines.
It was purchased on ebay so you'd have to be a little sceptical but my gut tells me it is indeed the man himself. Of course I want to believe
I would be interested to read the opinions of RJ fans, historians, cynics, forensic artists and facial recognition experts.

What do YOU think ?

http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/featu ... nson200811

anything is possible, if it looks real, it very well might be real. this would definitely be a boost for R.J. fans.

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you can save the world with your guitar one love song at a time it's just better, more fun, easier with a fender solid body electric guitar or electric bass guitar.

Nice article. Thanks boxbang.

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---> "The amp should be SWITCHED OFF AND UNPLUGGED before you do this!" <---

Por favor, disculpe mi español, no se llega a la práctica con mucha frecuencia.

Yep, thats him from what i can tell, im guessin before he sold his soul,the later picture of him seems darker like he has the world on his shoulders, only thing that catches my eye that could prove this false is the tailpiece, look at his picture of him taken at the recording studio, his guitar is a regular beat to hell acoustic, same tie though, different hat and suit, and in this photo hes not holding his regular chord he would for a photo,

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Well yeah, but the photos could be years apart so the clothing and guitars are irrelevant really.
What convinces me is the lazy left eye, the lower lip and chin, the shape of the ears and those extremely long fingers.

Okay, I do portraits and photography for a living and I don't know, I have my doubts. Robert's nose looks wider to me and so does his mouth. Also the other face seems longer to me. Because of the head angle, the left eye would look smaller. Most people have a dominant (larger) eye to some degree. In a professional portrait I can do things to compensate for it. Also Robert's right eye looks larger and rounder to me. Robert was friends with Johnny Shines. You would think Johnny would have known or mentioned something about a photograph the they were both in. Who knows though, I could be wrong but I'm not totally convinced. They should ask David "Honeyboy" Edwards he's still alive and as far as I can tell from speaking to him, he really tells the truth about Robert. He told me Robert dated his cousin. If anyone would know, he would. Check this out too. It's a great documentary about Robert by John Hammond Jr. "In Search of Robert Johnson"
http://www.classicaltv.com/v875/the-sea ... rt-johnson

This is the real deal David "Honeyboy" Edwards

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Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal

G'day 63supro, I'm glad to hear Honeyboy Edwards still lives. Yes they should consult him.
The quoted article does actually mention a photograph which Johnny Shines claimed was taken although I'm less sure that is JS in this photo.

I see where you're coming from regarding the eyes but when you zoom in, they really are very similar. I think the brightness of the flash could explain the wider right eye. Also, when a person smiles wider, the nostrils widen too, try it
I value your opinion and others which is why I started the thread and I'm not fully convinced myself.

The John Hammond jr documentary is great. He interviews Willie May, the original Kind Hearted Woman, very touching.

.......Mark.

Man, the photograph is here now, probably has been for a while.
http://www.robertjohnsonbluesfoundation.org/
I believe it may have already been made into a poster.
http://www.robertjohnsonbluesfoundation.org/photos/188
The other part of my business is photo restoration and man has this one been messed with. Johnny Shines has been removed and to me it looks like the fingers were extended.
The restoration job is pretty bad. Anything for a quick buck. Johnny Shines is also pretty significant in the Blues world too and should have been left in. I hate that kind of manipulation. I still have my doubts, but like I said I could be wrong. It's pretty funny how this showed up when HBO is thinking about doing something on Johnson, and no the tie isn't the same, not even close. I've done some pretty crazy stuff in Adobe Photoshop CS5. Even facial reconstruction and replacing digits and facial features that have been reconstructed. I would have to see the original photo to be sure. Still an interesting photograph. Remember, photography was still pretty expensive even in the 20's and 30's.

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Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal

Thanks 63supro, That article I posted was from 2008. It now looks like the photograph has been authenticated and accepted by Johnson's estate. We can be cynical about it and talk about money grabbing etc but I think the Johnson Foundation are pretty strict about this sort of thing. I personally believe the original story of the guy who bought it on ebay for just over 2 grand , listed as "BB King?". This story has a ring of truth about it. Anyway, all these details would have been checked, plus the testimony of the FBI forensic artist.

I found a photo in another forum which turned up on ebay a few months later.
Now this one is a blatant rip-off, it was listed for $8000 apparently. I doubt that it sold.



NOT EVEN CLOSE Forget that one.

The photo we're discussing actually compares well to the photo booth picture, the one with the cigarette.





All three pictures have that same left eye, hmmm anyway they're all official now.

I just wonder what I'd think if I saw them all for the first time.

Thanks everyone.

........Mark.

But remeber, a black male back in the south before the civil rights movement having more than one guitar or even finding a guitar for cheap, not likely, plus honestly, they look nothing alike

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Who knows? Anymore, I look at it as just another merchandising thing. It kind of reminds me of the whole Hendrix thing. I hope whoever did the restoration job did it for free. Too much freaky stuff going on in the photo. His music is his legacy.

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Life...... It's sexually transmitted and always fatal

You are entitled to change your mind about the photograph but your post is ridiculous.

You're telling me that a musician who owned several automobiles, toured extensively for several years to places as far reaching as Canada is unlikely to have ever held in his hands more than one guitar. huh???

Thanks for your input 63supro. I actually think the restored version of the photo looks pretty good and on the Johnson Foundation website,they have a version with Johnny Shines left in.
Any more rational people out there ? ....................someone please.

I further analyzed and changed my opinion, i was going off of first impressions, and if he was so rich than why by all accounts did he play for nickels and dimes, with most of that money going to whiskey, and hobod everywhere? And several automobiles? Yeah never read or heard of tht one, and if he had automobiles why did he hobo up until the day he died? And he may have made it up to Illinois, but there are no actual accounts, only Missouri being the farthest recorded, and he died before he could get to New York. He played local states, he didnt exactly tour extensively or make it to Canada by any means, he played what little places would take him.

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From a Rolling Stone biography on Robert Johnson.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/artis ... /biography

Quote-"It was at this time that he took up with Estella Coleman and unofficially adopted her son Robert Lockwood Jr., who was to become a respected bluesman himself, using the name Robert Jr. Lockwood. Johnson toured up and down the Mississippi, as far north as New York and Canada. It also was during this time that his stature grew, and he became protective and jealous of his playing style."

Rrom a Wikipedia boigraphy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Joh ... t_musician

"From 1932 to his death in 1938, Johnson lived his life in a manner that makes biography scarcely possible. He moved frequently between such large centers as Memphis and Helena, Arkansas and the smaller towns of the Mississippi Delta and neighboring regions of Mississippi and Arkansas.[18] On occasion, he travelled much further. Fellow blues musician Johnny Shines accompanied him to Chicago, Texas, New York, Canada, Kentucky, Indiana.[19] David Honeyboy Edwards shared a musical engagement with him in St Louis"

Negative Creep, Do you still think it is unlikely that RJ could have owned two guitars during his lifetime? If you do, give yourself a slap. To use this premise to refute the authenticity of the photograph is idiotic.

I don't care whether you think the latest photo is genuine or not, I'm not sure myself, but I refuse to engage in this inane argument with you any longer.

boxbang,do yourself a favor and put negative creep on your foe list,that's what I did and it's a lot better not having to read his assinine posts and see his little video of whats-his-name,bouncing around.
As far as the photo in question,I've found this interesting,and with photographs of long gone bluesmen being scarce,I hope the proper investigation has been done to authenticate it as much as possible.