Remembering "Mack" McCormick

I was saddened to learn about the death on 18 November, of Robert McCormick, better known simply as "Mack". 

As a musicologist, folklorist and historian, McCormick was probably best known for his work tracking down the true story of blues legend Robert Johnson. Through his dedicated field research during which he interviewed literally hundreds of people, he eventually, in 1972, traced Johnson's two half sisters and subsequently obtained the first photographs of Johnson himself. His plan was always to write a book about Johnson but he became bogged down by the wealth of material he had gathered, and filled with self doubts fuelled by his own manic depression, the book was never completed. However, the 1991 documentary film 'The Search for Robert Johnson' was partially based upon McCormick's research.

"Mack" was also instrumental in bringing the music of many other blues performers into the public eye. These included Mance Lipscomb and Lightnin' Hopkins, whose career McCormick revived in 1959. He also spent many years tracking down the story of the Texan singer Henry Thomas who had a short recording career in the late 1920's and who clearly influenced bands like Canned Heat in the 1960's. When a collection of Henry Thomas songs was eventually released on Herwin Records, McCormick wrote a 10,000 word essay to accompany the disc.

I was particularly struck by work that McCormick carried out tracing the true identities of Elvie Thomas and Geeshie Wiley who recorded for Paramount Records in the early 1930's. They had always been shrouded in mystery as having released only six recordings, they simply disappeared from public view. The journalist John Jeremiah Sullivan published a piece last year in the New York Times in which he claimed to have spoken with McCormick and somehow obtained transcripts of two interviews "Mack" conducted with L.V. Thomas in 1961. At that time Thomas was in her 70's but it would appear that she and 1930's recording artist Elvie Thomas were one and the same. During the interviews, she was also able to shed further light on the identity of Geeshie Wiley.

These are only a couple of examples of data that McCormick accumulated in his adult life. Indeed the mass of information he had stored became something of a millstone around his neck as it was simply too great for him to organise, analyse and draft into a form that could be published. In fact he himself often referred to all the data as the "monster" and found himself frequently flitting between unfinished projects. What he needed was a partner who could put his work into a form suitable for publication. He did at one time work with the English blues writer Paul Oliver but the two had a falling out and since then much of McCormick's laborious work has lain untouched. 

I understand that it has now passed into the hands of his daughter Susannah who has declared that something will be done with the material but it is not yet clear what. 

I can only hope that in the not too distant future McCormick's work does come into the public domain and we can share in all the wonderful stories that he unearthed. Without his work, many of the so-called blues legends who have become household names, would be forgotten or completely unknown. I believe we owe him a debt of gratitude.

RIP Mack