"If you want to learn how to make songs yourself, you take your guitar and you go to where the road crosses that way, where a crossroads is. Get there, be sure to get there just a little 'fore 12 that night so you know you'll be there. You have your guitar and be playing a piece there by yourself...A big black man will walk up there and take your guitar and he'll tune it. And then he'll play a piece and hand it back to you. That's the way I learned to play anything I want." as told by LeDell Johnson(Tommy's brother) to David Evans in "Tommy Johnson"(London:Studio Vista, 1971).
The "big black man" is a common description of the character who visits the crossroads in the American Deep South. Many regard him as synonymous with Legba or the Devil(see Robert Johnson's deal with the devil for more info). According to hoodoo, however, he could be one of many African deities charged with guarding the crossroads and bestowing wisdom upon ritual performers. Neither Tommy Johnson, nor his brother LeDell specify whether or not this character was, in their belief, Satan, Legba, or any other deities. This is a hole in the story that has been filled in by rumors and speculation. In fact, it is not known if Tommy Johnson actually believed his own story. Some have speculated that he verified the rumors in order to make himself more well-known.