Hi Everybody!!!! Thanks for responding! I stumbled onto the Mudcat Cafe by accident and thought this would be an interesting place to chat with some people who know and love blues. To give you some back ground on me........My name is Robert M. Harris. I'm 37yrs old and reside in Annapolis Maryland. My father (Lewis M. Harris) knew and loved Uncle Robert well......so much that he named me after him. My grandmother (Mrs. Carrie Spencer) was Uncle Robert's half-sister. So I am a relative by blood.

I do not know of any web sites that may be keeping abreast of the appeal concerning the estate. However I can give you alittle info about it but I cannot go too much in depth. One of our key issues is that (Claude Cain Johnson's) birth certificate was (improperly filled out). According to Mississippi state law (and any other state for that matter) for a birth certificate to be a (legal) document it must contain the father's and mother's full name. You (cannot) use Abbreviations. And on Claude's birth certificate the father's name was written as (R. L. Johnson).......... However the Judge allowed it into evidence. Now this presented a problem.........how do we know that R. L. Johnson (is in fact) Robert L. Johnson the bluesman? The court was presented with evidence that showed that there were (other men) living in that same area going by the name of R. L. Johnson. So how could the court be certain (without a doubt) that this man my uncle are the same person? This is just one of the issue's that we're appealing on. 2nd........the statement of Claude's aunt that she accompanied claude's mother and my uncle to a field and watched them have sex behind some bushes. Claude's mother contradicted that statement by saying that when she and my uncle had sex (no one) was watching them. But the judge gave the aunt's testimony alot of weight. And 3rd.......Claude claimed he knew that my uncle was his father from the time he was a little boy.......however he went by the name of cain (his stepfathers name) all the way up to the time he was in his late fifties. He only recently started going by the name (Johnson) when the estate was opened. Now........I find this all very strange.......don't you? That is pretty much the context of our appeal.

To go along with this appeal we currently have a lawsuit against Stephen Levere and Sony Records. We feel that my grandmother was exploited by these two entities in that (she) was the one approached and a deal made between Levere and herself......a deal that she later had recinded (legally by a attorney) and to which Mr. Levere was notified and to which he (responded). However.....he (and Sony Records) continued to produced my uncles music and use and copyright his likness (without my grandmothers permission). Well folks....I'm about out of time. I have to go for now. Will be in touch again soon!!!

thanks.......Robert.