Advanced Praise for the edited edition of Mack McCormickʻs Biography of a Phantom:
"This edited version of the manuscript could stand on its own as a revelation, but the contextual material adds to the intrigue. [...] A worthwhile investigation into a true legend of the blues."
-- Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
"This page-turner, crime-thriller like odyssey leads readers through the American South for details about the blues guitarist...Verdict: McCormick conveys a wild enthusiasm for his research and the music of Robert Johnson that readers will find contagious."
--Library Journal, Starred Review
"When in 1973 Mack McCormick first told me about Biography of a Phantom, he called his search for the facts of Robert Johnson’s life 'a detective story,' and it is. But what McCormick really found and brought home is a gorgeous intimacy with Johnson’s works and days, all culminating in a 1970 Mississippi listening party where people who knew Johnson more than thirty years before, who heard him play, who played their now long-gone Johnson 78s until they wore out, gather to hear King of the Delta Blues Singers. McCormick’s research may have been superseded by other books; the spirit in his book, a thing in itself, has not been. Not even close."
-- Greil Marcus
"One of the most coveted books in blues scholarship, Biography of a Phantom is truly a brilliant firsthand account by Mack McCormick. While it is a book about Robert Johnson, it is also a window into Mack’s idiosyncratic method of folkloric research. In a world without reference books dedicated to the blues, one can’t help but be drawn into Mack’s search through a sea of small southern towns for a specter of a blues singer."
--Dom Flemons
"At long last, a legendary manuscript sees the light of day. In the half century since Mack McCormick began his Biography of a Phantom, Robert Johnson has become much less phantom-like, with numerous books, articles, and films devoted to illuminating his life and legacy. It is instead McCormick who has become a mystery—and who is this book’s most compelling revelation. Through Smithsonian historian John Troutman’s editorial framing and McCormick’s own narrative, we understand for the first time the real life of a phantom, just not the one McCormick intended.
--Preston Lauterbach
"This edited version of the manuscript could stand on its own as a revelation, but the contextual material adds to the intrigue. [...] A worthwhile investigation into a true legend of the blues."
-- Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
"This page-turner, crime-thriller like odyssey leads readers through the American South for details about the blues guitarist...Verdict: McCormick conveys a wild enthusiasm for his research and the music of Robert Johnson that readers will find contagious."
--Library Journal, Starred Review
"When in 1973 Mack McCormick first told me about Biography of a Phantom, he called his search for the facts of Robert Johnson’s life 'a detective story,' and it is. But what McCormick really found and brought home is a gorgeous intimacy with Johnson’s works and days, all culminating in a 1970 Mississippi listening party where people who knew Johnson more than thirty years before, who heard him play, who played their now long-gone Johnson 78s until they wore out, gather to hear King of the Delta Blues Singers. McCormick’s research may have been superseded by other books; the spirit in his book, a thing in itself, has not been. Not even close."
-- Greil Marcus
"One of the most coveted books in blues scholarship, Biography of a Phantom is truly a brilliant firsthand account by Mack McCormick. While it is a book about Robert Johnson, it is also a window into Mack’s idiosyncratic method of folkloric research. In a world without reference books dedicated to the blues, one can’t help but be drawn into Mack’s search through a sea of small southern towns for a specter of a blues singer."
--Dom Flemons
"At long last, a legendary manuscript sees the light of day. In the half century since Mack McCormick began his Biography of a Phantom, Robert Johnson has become much less phantom-like, with numerous books, articles, and films devoted to illuminating his life and legacy. It is instead McCormick who has become a mystery—and who is this book’s most compelling revelation. Through Smithsonian historian John Troutman’s editorial framing and McCormick’s own narrative, we understand for the first time the real life of a phantom, just not the one McCormick intended.
--Preston Lauterbach
The drama of In Cold Blood meets the stylings of a Coen brothers film in this long-lost manuscript from musicologist Robert “Mack” McCormick, whose research on blues icon Robert Johnson's mysterious life and death became as much of a myth as the musician himself
When blues master Robert Johnson’s little-known recordings were rereleased to great fanfare in the 1960s, little was known about his life, giving rise to legends that he gained success by selling his soul to the devil. Biography of a Phantom: A Robert Johnson Blues Odyssey is musicologist Mack McCormick's all-consuming search, from the late 1960s until McCormick’s death in 2015, to uncover Johnson's life story. McCormick spent decades reconstructing Johnson's mysterious life and developing theories about his untimely death at the age of 27, but never made public his discoveries. Biography of a Phantom publishes his compelling work for the first time, including 40 unseen black-and-white photographs documenting his search.
While knocking on doors and sleuthing for Johnson's loved ones and friends, McCormick documents a Mississippi landscape ravaged by the racism of paternalistic white landowners and county sheriffs. An editor's preface and afterword from Smithsonian curator John W. Troutman provides context as well as troubling details about McCormick’s own impact on Johnson’s family and illuminates through McCormick’s archive the complex legacy of white male enthusiasts assuming authority over Black people’s stories and the history of the blues.
While Johnson died before achieving widespread recognition, his music took on a life of its own and inspired future generations. Biography of a Phantom, filled with lush descriptive fieldwork and photographs, is an important historical object that deepens the understanding of a stellar musician.
To Pre-Order a copy of Biography of a Phantom, click here
To Pre-Order a copy of the Smithsonian Folkways 6-LP box set, Playing for the Man at the Door: Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick, 1959-1971, click here
When blues master Robert Johnson’s little-known recordings were rereleased to great fanfare in the 1960s, little was known about his life, giving rise to legends that he gained success by selling his soul to the devil. Biography of a Phantom: A Robert Johnson Blues Odyssey is musicologist Mack McCormick's all-consuming search, from the late 1960s until McCormick’s death in 2015, to uncover Johnson's life story. McCormick spent decades reconstructing Johnson's mysterious life and developing theories about his untimely death at the age of 27, but never made public his discoveries. Biography of a Phantom publishes his compelling work for the first time, including 40 unseen black-and-white photographs documenting his search.
While knocking on doors and sleuthing for Johnson's loved ones and friends, McCormick documents a Mississippi landscape ravaged by the racism of paternalistic white landowners and county sheriffs. An editor's preface and afterword from Smithsonian curator John W. Troutman provides context as well as troubling details about McCormick’s own impact on Johnson’s family and illuminates through McCormick’s archive the complex legacy of white male enthusiasts assuming authority over Black people’s stories and the history of the blues.
While Johnson died before achieving widespread recognition, his music took on a life of its own and inspired future generations. Biography of a Phantom, filled with lush descriptive fieldwork and photographs, is an important historical object that deepens the understanding of a stellar musician.
To Pre-Order a copy of Biography of a Phantom, click here
To Pre-Order a copy of the Smithsonian Folkways 6-LP box set, Playing for the Man at the Door: Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick, 1959-1971, click here