Johnson’s guitar is only once mentioned directly, when the speaker refers to it as “Lucifer’s guitar” (Line 20). This reflects the cultural conventions of this time period in which playing guitar for anything other than church music was considered the work of the devil, and a conduit for sinful thoughts and activities. The speaker’s tone implies that they know more about this instrument than Johnson himself does. Robert Johnson was famously a mediocre guitar player until a brief disappearance, after which he played like a virtuoso. This gave rise to the belief that he had sold his soul for his skills.