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Library | Material Type | Shelf Number | Copies | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... Black Canyon City Community Library | Book | JOHNSON | 1 | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Willie Johnson was born in 1897, and from the beginning he loved to sing--and play his cigar box guitar. But his childhood was interrupted when he lost his mother and his sight. How does a blind boy make his way in the world? Fortunately for Willie, the music saved him and brought him back into the light. His powerful voice, combined with the wailing of his slide guitar, moved people. Willie made a name for himself performing on street corners all over Texas. And one day he hit it big when he got a record deal and his songs were played on the radio. Then in 1977, his song--"Dark Was the Night"--was chosen to light up the darkness when it was launched into space on the Voyager I space probe's famous Golden Record. His immortal song was selected for the way it expresses the loneliness humans all feel, while reminding us we're not alone.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 2--5--In 1977, Voyager 1 launched into space bearing a Golden Record of images, sounds, and music--a message from Earth to the unknown. One of the chosen songs shares the title of this picture book biography of singer Willie Johnson. Johnson, a blind Black man, was born in Texas in 1897 and loved to sing and play the cigar-box guitar his father had made for him. By the age of eight, he had lost both his mother and his eyesight. As a young man, Johnson took his guitar on the road, traveling from town to town by train, busking to make a living. He often sang the blues, using his pocket knife on steel guitar strings to play "slide." A music executive heard Johnson sing and decided to sign him. Johnson's first record sold thousands. He died in 1945, but his music lived on, now immortalized somewhere in the universe, though easily accessible through YouTube. Lewis's expressive watercolors depict the subject's humble country beginnings as well as the joy he felt when he sang and played. The book's recurrent theme of light is captured in the bright yellow wash throughout. The story of Johnson's life is framed with vivid spreads of a night sky illuminated by stars, referencing both the Voyager's mission and the song title. VERDICT A beautiful, timely tribute to a little-known musician and space venture.--Barbara Auerbach, Cairo P.L., NY
Publisher's Weekly Review
The inclusion of Johnson's song "Dark Was the Night" on a recording aboard NASA's Voyager frames this biography, handled with artistry by Golio and illustrated by Lewis in dazzling watercolors. Golio explains that in 1977, a collection of Earth's music was launched into deep space, which included "a musician, playing his guitar and humming a tune of light and dark." Information about Johnson (1897--1945) is scant, but the creators make the most of it: "You were born in the light, Willie Johnson," Golio begins, as Lewis paints Willie's mother cradling her infant close, her smile as warm in the sunshine. He loses her while he's still young, then loses his sight. But his playing and singing gain notoriety, and eventually a man from a record company hears him. The volume movingly commemorates Johnson and his music, which "shined a light in the darkness and finally touched the stars." Ages 5--8. (Aug.)
Horn Book Review
Little is known about the childhood and early life of Willie Johnson, the legendary bluesman known as Blind Willie whose recording of his song "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" was included on the Golden Record on NASA's 1977 Voyager 1 space probe. Lewis's watercolors provide the perfect complement to Golio's spare second-person prose: "In a dark, quiet room, your voice poured into a microphone, slid down some wires, and scratched itself into a wax disc." The contrast between the bright yellows of Johnson's Texas birthplace and the star-filled vistas of deep space parallel Johnson's loss of vision as a young boy. In a series of double-page spreads, Golio and Lewis trace the path of Johnson's musical career: his first cigar box guitar, singing in church, learning to play slide with the edge of his pocket knife -- all leading to the day Johnson lays down his first recordings. Back matter reveals the challenges of writing a biography of someone about whose early life little is known, and also gives more detailed information about NASA's Golden Record and the Voyager 1 space probe. Eric Carpenter November/December 2020 p.124(c) Copyright 2020. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
When NASA scientists compiled a recording of sounds to send into space representing Earth and humanity, those sounds included thunder, crickets, classical pieces, and a short wordless song by musician "Blind Willie" Johnson. Willie Johnson's mother died while he was still a boy, and shortly thereafter he lost his sight. Now young Johnson's light came from singing in the church choir and playing the guitar. He traveled to cities throughout Texas, where he sang and played for money. One day, an adult Johnson was given the opportunity to record an album of his songs. One of the songs was "Dark Was the Night," a haunting yet hopeful tune marked only by Johnson's humming and characteristic slide-guitar playing. The second-person narrative is brief but evocative. In the backmatter, Golio shares with readers that this song was chosen for the Golden Record placed on Voyager 1 in 1977 because "Johnson powerfully conveyed the sense of loneliness that all people feel--something very important to know about human beings and life on planet Earth." Lewis' illustrations have a soft, blurred effect to them, conveying both the bygone time and Johnson's vision loss. They are washes of mostly blue and violet, with punches of bright yellow and gold. The author's note also discusses the challenges of researching Johnson and provides a bit more information on Voyager 1. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 65% of actual size.) An ode to a too-little-discussed musician and an excellent introduction to his amazing musical talent. (Picture book/biography. 5-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
The subject of this beautiful biography is blues musician Blind Willie Johnson, whose soulful singing and slide guitar playing so moved people that his song "Dark Was the Night" was included on the Golden Record that NASA sent into space in 1977. There is little known about Johnson's life, a fact acknowledged by Golio in an afterword, but the author has turned the details uncovered by scholarship into a simple, inspiring story of one man's commitment to lifting up himself and those around him with his music. As Golio puts it, "It was the sound of one human being reaching out to all the others, telling them not to be afraid of the dark." Imagery of light and darkness runs throughout the text, both spiritually and literally in Johnson's blindness, and it is also skillfully evoked in Lewis' illustrations, which set stars sparkling in the deep blue of outer space and sends gold radiating from Johnson's guitar as he plays, smiling all the time. An American treasure who shouldn't go unsung.