An event this Friday celebrating the birthday of blues icon Robert Johnson at Gunter Hotel will feature music, discussion and more centered around the legendary and mythic figure, who made his first recordings in the hotel’s Room 414 in 1936.
The gathering will include a free panel discussion starting at 4 p.m., featuring Alex Peterson, Glenn Peterson Jr., Nicky Diamonds, Colin Hancock and moderator Bria Woods of KRTU. The panel will touch on Johnson’s impact on the evolution of blues, Texas’ deep blues roots and the genre’s relevance in today’s music landscape. The discussion is sold out, but it’s hardly the only event on the day’s agenda.
The panel discussion will be followed by a 5 p.m. “birthday party,” also free to attend, with a poem commemorating the event by Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson, birthday cake, vinyl DJ sets and a crowd singalong of Happy Birthday for the fondly remembered artist. RSVP is also required for this event.
The event’s ticketed musical performance is also sold out, featuring performances by the Grammy-winning Peterson Brothers, San Antonio blues artist Nicky Diamonds, and Austin guitar ace Sue Foley. If that’s not enough to give you the blues, we don’t know what will.
But to pick you up again, a blues jam session led by Chris Cuevas in the hotel’s Bar 414 — named after the room Robert Johnson laid down his immortal tracks in — is still open. Free with RSVP.
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