Rock 'n' roll has deep roots at the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio
By Jack Morgan
May 13, 2026 at 12:26 PM CDT
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The brief life of early 20th century Delta bluesman Robert Johnson has fueled legend. Did he sell his soul at the crossroads for his otherworldly talent? And did that devilish deal lead to his untimely death at age 27?
Robert Johnson only recorded a few dozen songs, many of them at a hotel in San Antonio. And now the Gunter Hotel is remembering one of its most legendary guests.
One of his best songs was "Cross Road Blues," and the lyrics reveal a life lived on the edge. “I went down to the crossroads … fell down on my knees …” go the by now familiar words to that famous song.
Display at the Gunter (4515x4284, AR: 1.053921568627451)
An intense loneliness and musicality sit at the core of Johnson's recording. That raw, soulful sound inspired generations of guitarists, including Eric Clapton, who did his own rock version with supergroup Cream.
Elizabeth Fauerso is working with the Gunter Hotel on this project. “A really seminal moment in American musical history happened in the room that we're sitting in right now, Room 414,” she said.
Untitled
The Gunter Hotel is working to reclaim and preserve its role in American music. That legacy was created when Johnson checked in and recorded songs that helped shape modern blues and rock music.
Former Express-News columnist and bass player Jim Beal said that by the time Johnson got to San Antonio, he knew what he was doing. “Robert Johnson just had a great way with timing and with rhythm and with lyrics, and he was an excellent guitarist,” he said.
“He only did a handful of sessions, one at the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio in 1936.”
In 1936, the recording industry was still young and searching for new talent to fill their airwaves with. Fauerso said one label traveled across the country looking for authentic regional music. “There was a label called ARC, the American Record Corporation. And what they were doing at that time in the ’30s, there were these hyper-regional Americana sounds emerging outside the footprint of major cities,” she said.
Untitled
The Gunter Hotel’s owners decided that musical history was important enough to preserve in a major way. Last Friday night, they held a celebration marking the hotel’s restoration and its connection to Johnson’s legacy.
Former San Antonio Poet Laureate Andrea "Vocab" Sanderson, wrote a poem about Johnson, and performed it during the event where she also emceed. She began the evening with that poem performed live.
“He remains a one-man band for futures to uncover and revere. … Tonight we uncover and revere,” she said as listeners applauded.
Guitarist and singer Nicky Diamond performed Johnson’s “Come into My Kitchen.”
Untitled
The Robert Johnson birthday celebration was part of the hotel’s $57 million renovation, including something Fauerso says visitors will not find anywhere else.
“Having the studio here is going to be a really interesting thing that will provoke, hopefully, lots of different experiments and discourse,” she said.
Hundreds showed up to tour the remodeled hotel and hear live blues music.
The Peterson Brothers and their band rounded out the night with their take on Robert Johnson and his pioneering style of writing and playing.
Fauerso said another gathering is already being planned to mark the anniversary of Johnson’s recording session. Fauerso is expected to include Johnson’s grandson, Steven Johnson, in that event this fall.
Robert Johnson- Crossroad
“In November, when we have the next event celebrating the date of the recording, we’ll have Steven and his family up here, because the studio will be open then, and so I think that'll be really special,” she said.
Steven Johnson’s favorite genre is gospel, and he hopes to record in the studio once construction is complete.
“History is most powerful when it becomes a living thing and a platform for the generation of more creativity and more story and more energy,” Fauerso said. “It feels like this place has a fate with music. A good one. A great one.”
Fauerso and the Gunter Hotel have begun a deeper effort to document where art happened in San Antonio, and where it might continue to thrive.
Eric Clapton - Crossroads (Live at The Royal Albert Hall 1991) [Official Video]
The brief life of early 20th century Delta bluesman Robert Johnson has fueled legend. Did he sell his soul at the crossroads for his otherworldly talent? And did that devilish deal lead to his untimely death at age 27?
Robert Johnson only recorded a few dozen songs, many of them at a hotel in San Antonio. And now the Gunter Hotel is remembering one of its most legendary guests.
One of his best songs was "Cross Road Blues," and the lyrics reveal a life lived on the edge. “I went down to the crossroads … fell down on my knees …” go the by now familiar words to that famous song.
Display at the Gunter (4515x4284, AR: 1.053921568627451)
An intense loneliness and musicality sit at the core of Johnson's recording. That raw, soulful sound inspired generations of guitarists, including Eric Clapton, who did his own rock version with supergroup Cream.
Elizabeth Fauerso is working with the Gunter Hotel on this project. “A really seminal moment in American musical history happened in the room that we're sitting in right now, Room 414,” she said.
Untitled
The Gunter Hotel is working to reclaim and preserve its role in American music. That legacy was created when Johnson checked in and recorded songs that helped shape modern blues and rock music.
Former Express-News columnist and bass player Jim Beal said that by the time Johnson got to San Antonio, he knew what he was doing. “Robert Johnson just had a great way with timing and with rhythm and with lyrics, and he was an excellent guitarist,” he said.
“He only did a handful of sessions, one at the Gunter Hotel in San Antonio in 1936.”
In 1936, the recording industry was still young and searching for new talent to fill their airwaves with. Fauerso said one label traveled across the country looking for authentic regional music. “There was a label called ARC, the American Record Corporation. And what they were doing at that time in the ’30s, there were these hyper-regional Americana sounds emerging outside the footprint of major cities,” she said.
Untitled
The Gunter Hotel’s owners decided that musical history was important enough to preserve in a major way. Last Friday night, they held a celebration marking the hotel’s restoration and its connection to Johnson’s legacy.
Former San Antonio Poet Laureate Andrea "Vocab" Sanderson, wrote a poem about Johnson, and performed it during the event where she also emceed. She began the evening with that poem performed live.
“He remains a one-man band for futures to uncover and revere. … Tonight we uncover and revere,” she said as listeners applauded.
Guitarist and singer Nicky Diamond performed Johnson’s “Come into My Kitchen.”
Untitled
The Robert Johnson birthday celebration was part of the hotel’s $57 million renovation, including something Fauerso says visitors will not find anywhere else.
“Having the studio here is going to be a really interesting thing that will provoke, hopefully, lots of different experiments and discourse,” she said.
Hundreds showed up to tour the remodeled hotel and hear live blues music.
The Peterson Brothers and their band rounded out the night with their take on Robert Johnson and his pioneering style of writing and playing.
Fauerso said another gathering is already being planned to mark the anniversary of Johnson’s recording session. Fauerso is expected to include Johnson’s grandson, Steven Johnson, in that event this fall.
Robert Johnson- Crossroad
“In November, when we have the next event celebrating the date of the recording, we’ll have Steven and his family up here, because the studio will be open then, and so I think that'll be really special,” she said.
Steven Johnson’s favorite genre is gospel, and he hopes to record in the studio once construction is complete.
“History is most powerful when it becomes a living thing and a platform for the generation of more creativity and more story and more energy,” Fauerso said. “It feels like this place has a fate with music. A good one. A great one.”
Fauerso and the Gunter Hotel have begun a deeper effort to document where art happened in San Antonio, and where it might continue to thrive.
Eric Clapton - Crossroads (Live at The Royal Albert Hall 1991) [Official Video]