Iowa Author

Author and illustrator Gary Kelley explains it this way, “If I had not heard this as a very brief story on National Public Radio, I may never have discovered its incredible depth.” Cellomaster Pablo Casals and ‘King of the Delta Blues’ Robert Johnson recorded iconic albums the very same week in history. Late November 1936. In Spain, Pablo was dealing with an erupting World War II. While in America’s ‘Jim Crow’ South, Robert was dealing with racism and the ‘Great Depression.’ For both, their music was their motivation. Pablo recorded Bach’s Classic Suites at Abbey Road Studios in London, while Robert recorded his ‘classic’ Blues album in a hotel room in San Antonio, Texas. And their lives would go on … in different directions.