Ike Zimmerman: The X in Robert Johnson’s Crossroads Bruce Michael Conforth, Ph.D. Program in American Culture University of Michigan Author’s note: At the request of the family and their wish to remain private, at least at this me, their current surname is not used in this arcle, nor is the locaon in which they reside. Legimate inquiries concerning the family may be made to this author (bmconfor@umich.edu) and will be forwarded to the family for their consideraon. Whenever one undertakes collecng an oral history nature, the queson of the veracity of the narrave must always be considered. It is not unknown, of course, for informants to invent informaon in order to please the researcher. This is an occasional tendency among older blues musicians, especially when dealing with a figure as notable as Robert Johnson. I have personally heard the same informant, years, months, or somemes even days apart tell different accounts of the same events. I felt it parcularly necessary, therefore, to do whatever I could to corroborate the informaon I collected from my interviews with the Zimmerman family. The fact that there was so lile known about Zimmerman made it all the more important for me to try to ensure the historical accuracy of the stories I was told. Family documents, the corresponding recollecons of other individuals, the manner in which the families narraves so perfectly validated and dovetailed into exisng informaon, and their inial reluctance and cauon in granng such and interview make me certain that the following informaon contains as much accuracy as any oral history of the blues of which I am aware. Since there is such a plethora of wrien material, both factual and hypothecal, about Robert Johnson I do not feel it incumbent to retell the story of his life in this arcle. Rather, I will focus solely on the alleged “missing” me in Johnson’s early life that have hitherto been largely uncounted for, which has assisted in developing his crossroads/devil story, and the nature of this me as it relates to Ike Zimmerman. I would like to thank the family of Ike Zimmerman for the permission and hospitality they offered this author, and am extremely pleased to be able to add more of the story of Ike Zimmerman to blues history. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Perhaps the most enduring legend in the history of the Delta blues is the story of Robert Johnson selling his soul to the Devil in exchange for the ability to play guitar beer, and unlike anyone else. When one enters Robert+Johnson+Crossroads into an internet search engine it returns nearly one and a half million hits. Fueled by Hollywood 1 , rock musicians 2, the media, and of course the internet, the mysque of Robert Johnson has blossomed into a full-blown contemporary business and myth. 3 This legend has at least some of its genesis in both the folk beliefs of early tweneth-century African- Americans, and the rapidity with which Johnson seemed to have become a guitar master. This idea, Johnson’s rapid acquision of superior, and some have even used the term “unearthly,” musical skills 1