Reviews
"[This book] paints a lively portrait of the African American community in Memphis in the 1930s."-- Daily Hampshire Gazette, A Rolling Stone-Kirkus Best Music Book of 2020 Winner of the Audiofile Earphones Award Publishers Weekly , "Most Anticipated Books of Spring 2020" No Depression, "Best Music Books of 2020", "Anderson offers vivid, personal glimpses of her stepbrother ... providing a colorful picture .... [An] earnest and enlightening memoir."-- Publishers Weekly, "Although it's been more than 80 years since Anderson last saw Johnson,her memories are vivid and personal, as she recalls a well-loved older siblingwho entertained his family and community with his guitar and vast repertoire ofsongs. [...] Anderson's account debunks myths about Johnson: he had a lovingfamily; he was exposed to all kinds of popular music; he was not illiterate;and he did not go to the crossroads and sell his soul to the devil. ConsiderAnderson's heartfelt chronicle an earnest attempt to set the record straight."-- Booklist, "[ Brother Robert } book does much to pull the blues master out of the fog of myth." ( A Rolling Stone-Kirkus Best Music Book of 2020) -- Rolling Stone, "Mrs. Anderson summons up poignant memories of the young man she so admired... If Johnson has become an idealised figure, Anderson's book helps us to see him as a flesh-and-blood individual, an entertainer rather than some tortured mystic."-- The Times (UK), "A breathtaking look into the provenance of one of the 20th century'sgreat musical minds, the social warp and woof of Black Memphis in the 1920s and'30s, and, in spite of racial violence that continues to this day, thepersistence of family and the power of music."-- Memphis Flyer, "[This book reveals] "new details about everything from Johnson's birth to his romantichistory to his life at home with family - even his favourite foods and brandsof tobacco and pomade. The book also arrives with a new photograph of Johnson -just the third confirmed image in the world."-- CBC, "Cutting through the mythos that has long surrounded this iconic artist, this is an intriguing addition to the history of 20th-century blues."-- Library Journal, A Rolling Stone-Kirkus Best Music Book of 2020 Winner of the Audiofile Earphones Award Publishers Weekly , "Most Anticipated Books of Spring 2020" No Depression, "Best Music Books of 2020" Best Classic Bands, "Best Music Books of the Year" OnMilwaukee, "10 Great Books from 2020", "Annye Anderson's lush, vivid memories from Robert Johnson's home base give the bluesman a personal dimension like never before. How he walked, the pomade in his hair, his protection of his guitar. The aura of mystery remains, but with Brother Robert , Johnson gains character and context, and becomes more of a person than we've ever known this specter to be."-- RobertGordon, author of Can't Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Watersand It Came From Memphis, "A remarkable book,one which so richly complements those that came before it documenting RobertJohnson's life and legacy."-- Under the Radar Magazine
