If you have zero interest in the blues โ the very foundation of American music โ I canโt promise you a gripping tale. But if you have even a passing awareness of Robert Johnson, or the impossibly rich tradition that descended from his scant recordings, then you wonโt be able to tear yourself away. Discovery, dispute, and deceit: from those three chords Michael Hall composes an unforgettable tune.
On April 4, Mackโs manuscript,ย Biography of a Phantom,ย was finally published, more than five decades after he started it. But itโs very different from the pages I held in my hands back in 2016. In parts of the book, Mackโs presence outweighs Johnsonโsโand not to Mackโs benefit. By the last page, Mack has become the villain of his own lifeโs work.
Mackโs favorite Dickinson poem begins, โThis is my letter to the World that never wrote to me.โ If youโre familiar with the poem, you know that it ends, โJudge tenderlyโof Me.โ As Mackโs friend, Iโm going to try to do that for him. Though he made it really hard, because a lot of what I thought I knew about Mack was all wrong.