Robert Johnson, Son House, Lead Belly, Memphis Minnie, Charley Patton, John Lee Hooker, Howlin’ Wolf… History has a way of deifying names such as these, ensuring that they’re spoken about in awed, reverent tones because of their innovative musical inspiration. In one respect, this reverence is completely justified. These blues guitarists are among the founders of rock ’n’ roll, and of popular music as a whole. Without them there would be no Chuck Berry, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Duane Allman, Samantha Fish or Gary Clark Jr, to name a few of the guitarists influenced by their music.
And so they are revered, not only for their music, guitar talents or songwriting abilities, but also for the hard lives they led, which were more often than not…