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Robert Johnson is buried all over the place. There are markers for Robert Johnson graves at Mt. Zion Church, near Morgan City, MS and Payne Chapel Memorial Baptist Church, near Quito, MS. Finally, in the 90s, a credible eyewitness to the burial came forward; her account matched up other reliable accounts, and a consensus developed around a third grave, at Little Zion Baptist Church near Greenwood. I’ve made a google map to show the widely dispersed places where there have been claims of Robert Johnson Burial sites. The one with the Blues Trail marker is the third and most probable one. (There’s no direct link to the Blues Trail marker, which is online. To view the actual blues trail marker, go here, click on the Southern Delta map. There are four markers in the Greenwood area; click on the one about eleven o’clock–if you hold your mouse over them, their name appears–and the marker for the “one true” grave will come up).

Now folks in Greenwood are fighting over where the man died. A Clarion Ledger story (with a misleading headline that suggests the current controversy is yet another round of “where is he buried”) describes the dispute, which in one sense is much-ado-about-nothing, but really seems to be about local politics and questions of who-owns-this-story.

The dispute is between Steve LaVere and David Jordan. LaVere is the individual who got relatives of Johnson to sign an agreement granting him control of the Johnson copyrights, and then made a royalty deal with Columbia Records that became worth millions when the Johnson recordings were released on CD. LaVere now lives in Greenwood and owns a museum of some sort there. He has had a history of being very proprietary about all things Robert Johnson, including research (he has sold the copyrights). David Jordan is a long time activist and politician in the Black community in Greenwood.

Jordan prompted the snit by putting up a historic marker of his own in Baptist Town, saying that Robert Johnson died there. There’s no dispute that Johnson stayed there in the days leading up to his death, but Steve LaVere wants all to know that he’s got the real scoop, and Johnson in fact died somewhere else. From the C/L report:

Many historians say the iconic bluesman died at Star of the West Plantation, just north of Greenwood. Four years ago, though, state Sen. David Jordan, D-Greenwood, placed a sign in Baptist Town that reads, “Robert Johnson played music and died on this corner.”

Jordan, who serves as president of the Greenwood City Council, said the sign is part of an effort to promote Greenwood’s cultural past.

With five Mississippi Blues Trail markers already in Leflore County and four more scheduled, the blues is an obvious part of that history.

“There are so many spots in the African-American community that are connected to history,” Jordan said.

“I put that sign there to remind us of our history and our legacy so it won’t be forgotten. And, so others can learn it.”

Jordan believes Johnson died in Baptist Town because of conversations he had with David “Honeyboy” Edwards during the filming of a documentary about Johnson’s life that the BBC made in 1990.

This makes Steve LaVere very testy:

Steve LaVere, a music historian who operates Greenwood Blues and Heritage Museum, said Jordan’s sign is “totally erroneous and he knows it.”

“The only thing that (Edwards) ever said Robert Johnson ever did in Baptist Town was have a room there.”

LaVere believes Johnson died at Star of the West Plantation. Of the location, he said, “There is no disagreement among people who know the facts.”