I watched the Wim Wenders directed film for the Martin Scorsese blues series again a couple of nights ago. “The Soul of a Man” is loosely based around the lives of Blind Willie Johnson, Skip James and JB Lenoir, and it’s voiced from the perspective of Blind Willie Johnson. Johnson has always been one musical figure that I’ve gotten just a ton of inspiration and joy from. After those recordings he pretty much gave up on “music” and spent his life preaching the gospel. This man who wrote a song that is literally on a one way trip out of the solar system, died of pneumonia sleeping in his burned out shack, shivering under wet newspapers gazing at he stars. Johnson’s music has inspired generations of musicians. Skip James and JB Lenior were two of the most brilliant songwriters in the history of the blues, and their work would stand up against anything and everything written today. How did Johnson put everything down and walk awy? Did it continue to live in him and eat him alive or was he really able to quench the beast and not look back. “As far as I can understand, it’s nothing but a burning light.”