, or just Robert was a great among greats. As one of the original King Biscuit boys, he appeared regularly with Sonny Boy Williamson II in the early days of KFFA s King Biscuit Time radio show, forging a 70-year friendship with the show s host Sunshine Sonny Payne who continues to host the longest running radio show in American history. Lockwood was fostered as a musician at an early age under the tutelage of the legendary Robert Johnson and became the carrier of his legacy.
How many times have you heard Sweet Home Chicago? Well, the next time you hear it think of Johnson teaching an adolescent Robert Lockwood, Jr. his first song.
Lockwood said it took him three weeks to learn. He was a quick study though. I had learned his style so well, when we went on the road, he would stand on one side of the river, and I d be on the other, and the people couldn t tell us apart.
Johnson said we would make more money that way. Double what we would make if we played together and he was right , Lockwood said. Little did he know that one day he would become the teacher, the esteemed Dr.
Lockwood, Professor of the Blues .
Dr. Lockwood s respect and admiration for Johnson was significant, deep-rooted and personal.
If you hung around him for any period of time, it wouldn t be long before he began to talk about Johnson like a personal hero. When asked what made Johnson s playing style so unique, he simply explained, he backed himself up, like there were two people playing at the same time; he was thirty years ahead of his time! Listening to Dr.
Lockwood gives us a peek into the past and this same back-up style that he no doubt gleaned from Johnson.
As Dr. Lockwood s career evolved, he became one of the most sought after and revered guitarists in the business.
Unlike Johnson whose playing style was kept a mystery, Dr. Lockwood became the esteemed professor for a select group of emerging understudies such as B.B.
King, Buddy Guy, Freddie King, Jimmy Rogers, Matt Guitar Murphy and others. He was the guitar player s guitar player.
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