The updating of the Faust legend to the Mississippi Delta in the 1920s and 30s is one of the great efforts of modern mythopoesis. So the correct answer to the question "Did Robert Johnson sell his soul to the devil?" is probably "Who really cares?" It's not history but myth we're talking about, even though it was less than a hundred years ago. Still, Ted Gioia's attempt to answer the question makes an interesting read (via). 

At the bottom of his article he links to a few early blues songs about the devil. This one's my favourite:

 

Bo Carter, recorded at the St. Charles Hotel, New Orleans, Saturday, October 22, 1938.

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