Do you know who Robert Johnson was?

“Do you know who Robert Johnson was?”

I’ll never forget the day that Claud Johnson walked into my office and asked me that question. It was the start of what is now a 20-year voyage and one of the great stories in Mississippi blues history.

I’ve retold the story several times, including to the Los Angeles Times. The Robert Johnson Blues Foundation has that article on their Web site. In it, you can find the conversation I had with Claud that day. It went something like this:

“He [Claud] walked in one day and said, ‘Jim, do you know who Robert Johnson was?’

“I said, ‘Sure I do,’ ” Kitchens recalled.

“He said, ‘How do you know that?’

“I said, ‘I listen to public radio.’

“He said, ‘That was my daddy.’ “

“I said, ‘What?’

He said, ‘That was my daddy.’

“I said, ‘Who else knows this?’

“He said, ‘Well, there’s my momma.’ “

Claud Johnson, who lives in my hometown, had been my friend for 30 years when he walked in that day. I used to make deliveries to places where he and his wife worked, and I bought barbeque from them in later years. We always treated each other like family.

Not much has changed about Claud since he was named the sole heir to Robert Johnson’s estate. He has a nicer house, but he also still has his old gravel truck. His heart is still the same. That’s the greatest part of this story.

It’s a story that HBO is making into a movie. I had the great honor to meet with screenwriter James L. White, who wrote the movie “Ray”. Jimmy White is writing a movie about Robert Johnson, told from the perspective of Claud. I don’t catch a lot of movies, but I’ll be in front of the television for this one.