In the companion to GRR’s now classic program on the Faustian legend and the ongoing series of shows on the Blues, Jack “The Agnostic” Garcia examines the life, legend and legacy of Robert Johnson. A musician who has an extensive Mythology surrounding him.  His most persistent themes were Religious and spiritual despair and he painted his musical imagery with scenes of constant traveling, degradation, and unbridled sexuality. The bluesman as Byronic poet whose life and art are inseparable, and whose art , mind and soul blaze with a divine and / or demonic intensity. In part 1 , Jack chronicles Johnson’s early life , born into utter poverty in the deep rural South – young Robert has a harsh and unhappy childhood. The only thing that soothes his troubled soul is the Blues, so he saves up his nickles , dimes and pennies and learns harmonica and guitar from listening to 78 RPM recordings. By the time he is sixteen, Johnson is playing in juke joints late night houses of Blues worship – overflowing with colorful characters , music, booze , drugs , sex , violence and sometimes murder. In part 1 – Jack also examines the many variations of the Crossroads Myth. A Mississippi Delta version of the ancient Faustian legend. someone who gains supernatural knowledge and ability by selling their soul to the Devil. a darkly romantic vision also claimed by other first generation Country Bluesmen.