Blind Willie Johnson's Grave Discovered Thursday August 20, 2009
Since his death in the late-1940s (the exact date and year is in question), slide-guitarist Blind Willie Johnson has become one of the early blues era artists most loved by guitar-slinging rockers. Johnson's songs have been covered by everybody from Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton to Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones. The guitarist's classic "Dark Was The Night (Cold Was The Ground)" was included on a "sounds of the earth" recording that was shot into space with the Voyager One space probe.
Sadly, though, for over six decades Johnson's final resting place has been unknown and unmarked…until now. Texas music historian Jack Ortman spent eighteen months and more than a dozen long distance trips between Austin and Beaumont to uncover the truth about the blues legend. In the process, he feels that he has discovered Johnson's grave in Beaumont's Blanchette Cemetery, the musician buried in a pauper's grave in the Negro section of the cemetery.
Ortman's journey began when he became determined to discover Johnson's burial site, gathering up books, articles, and CDs documenting the guitarist's life and music. In a press release about his discovery, Ortman says "during my research, I kept coming across information that Blind Willie had lived in Beaumont during the 30s and 40s. The sources also revealed that he died in Beaumont. My natural curiosity made me search further and I started finding information that no one was sure where he was buried. That was it, my moment of realization, and I thought, 'What a perfect project for me.'"
Ortman is pushing for the placement of an Official Texas Historical Marker from the Texas Historical Commission on Johnson's grave, which has already been paid for by an anonymous donor. Ortman's quest to find Johnson's gravesite is a fascinating tale, and you can read about it on the PR Inside website.