Did you know there was a "swing dancing" culture in Memphis, if you read my blog you should because I say it enough. Anyway one of my friends is in this Jazz Combo. Last night they were playing at this coffee shop called Qetzel. The band was awesome and it was only the second time that I had been to that coffee shop, the place rocks, it is pretty close to Sun Studio's on Union, the parking is in the back.

The dude I knew in the band and I (Paul) went to IHOP after the show, where he told me that he knew Jimbo Mathus. So I figure, that most of you don't know who Jimbo Mathus is. He is the dude who started the band "squirrel nut zippers." When I got into swing dancing I got ahold of two of their albums, Inevitable, and Perrenial Favorites. The albums were amazing. They don't take the modern route of swing bands like the Cherry Poppin Daddies and the Big Bad Voodoo Daddies, actually one guy I know described them well by saying, "their stuff is good to Charleston too." Though the band is no longer together I think they are worth checking out.

It is funny Paul and I got into this conversation because we were discussing the Robert Johnson and the crossroads. The story is actually a bastardization of two different people. There is a hoodoo story about a guy named Tommy Johnson who went to the crossroads a little before midnight. They told Tommy to take a guitar and a start playing whatever he was working on at the time. At midnight a man in black walks up to him, takes his guitar, tunes it, and shows him how to play it better.
The Robert Johnson version of this story is much more Faustian. Basically, based on many of his songs like the song crossroad:

I went down to the crossroad
fell down on my knees
I went down to the crossroad
fell down on my knees
Asked the lord above "Have mercy now
save poor Bob if you please"
Yeeooo, standin at the crossroad
tried to flag a ride

Though realistically the song is about needing a ride is has caused many to wonder.
There is this one though:

I gotta keep movin
I gotta keep movin...
Blues fallin down like hail
Blues fallin down like hail
And the days keeps on worryin me
theres a hellhound on my trail

then he sings...

You sprinkled hot foot powder mmmm
mmm around my door
all around my door

hot foot powder is a hoodoo (not voodoo) thing, it is more than just foot powder, the powder sprikled in a place where someone was going to walk often would cause bad luck.
There are a little more obsious points though
Early this mornin'
when you knocked upon my door
Early this mornin', ooh
when you knocked upon my door
And I said, "Hello, Satan,"
I believe it's time to go."

One webpage says this:
In southern black communities it was a well-known notion that one could go to the crossroads and sell one's soul to the devil. The concept dates back to African Folklore. The diety Esu was believed to be the guardian of the crossroads, and was an intermediate between gods and humans. When Christianity was brought to African Culture, these pagan gods were labeled as being similar to the devil. Hence, the concept that one could find the devil at a crossroad. In celtic tradition, the bodies of the unholy were buried outside of town near crossroads to preserve consecrated ground.

Anyway there are plenty of places you can check out the story of Robert or Tommy Johnson via google.