It's one of the most famous and saddest stories in the lore of blues music.  On August 13, 1938, Robert Johnson -- the greatest of the Delta blues guitarists -- was playing a Saturday night gig at a country roadhouse just outside Greenwood, Mississippi.  He'd been quarreling all week with the manager of the bar over a woman:  the manager's wife.

   That night, someone handed Johnson a half-pint bottle of whiskey.  His musical partner for the evening, Sonny Boy Williamson II, noticed the revenue seal on the bottle was broken and, aware of the dangers Johnson faced, knocked the bottle out of his hands before he could drink it.  Johnson exploded in rage at Williamson, who could do nothing when a second half-pint bottle, also with broken seal, was handed to his friend.  Johnson drank it down and shortly thereafter started showing symptoms of strychnine poisoning.  Three days later, he was dead.  According to his death certificate, Johnson was just 26 years old.

   We know the story mainly by way of Sonny Boy Williamson II, and also David "Honeyboy" Edwards, a friend of Johnson's who played the Greenwood roadhouse later that same night.   Sonny Boy died in 1965.  "Honeyboy" Edwards, however, is alive and well today at the age of 93, and this afternoon, almost seventy years after that fateful night, Edwards played a fine set at the Chicago Blues Festival.   He closed the first part of his set with Johnson's "Sweet Home Chicago," and I got shivers when I realized that Edwards had learned the tune originally not from Johnson's 1936 recording, but rather from hearing the man play it in person.  

    Edwards was followed on the stage by an even older performer:  94-year-old Pinetop Perkins (that's him pictured above, signing autographs this afternoon before his set) played a spirited set, both singing and pounding on the piano  keyboard.  His band for the day included two other fellow alumni of the Muddy Waters Band (Willie "Big Eyes" Smith and Bob Margolin), and they announced from the stage that Mrs. Muddy Waters was also present in the audience.   Veteran bassist Bob Stroger, introduced as the best-dressed man in the blues, added to the remarkable combo.  Their rendition of "Down in Mississippi" in particular featured some fine piano work by Perkins, who looked quite dapper himself.   It was 90 degrees and humid this afternoon in Grant Park:  just like an August night in Mississippi.

   Perkins turns 95 later this month.  I'm going to try to get back to the festival Sunday night for the final headliner, B.B. King.  But, hey, he's only 82.