King of the Delta Blues Singers

Infobox Album |
Name = King of the Delta Blues Singers
Type = Compilation album
Artist = Robert Johnson


Released = 1961
Recorded = November 1936 and
June 1937
Genre = Blues
Length = 43:08
Label = Columbia
Producer = Frank Driggs
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fe91z8ba8yv3 link] |
Last album =
This album = "King of the Delta Blues Singers" (1961)
Next album = "King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. 2" (1970)

"King of the Delta Blues Singers" is an album compiling mono recordings by Robert Johnson, released in 1961 on Columbia Records, catalogue number CL1654. It is considered one of the greatest and most influential blues releases ever, and appears at number 27 on "Rolling Stone"'s "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" [http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/6598142?rnd=1127257992645&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1040] .

Content

The album compiles sixteen recordings, thirteen of which were previously available as 78s on the Vocalion label, originally recorded during two sessions in 1936 and 1937. The records sold well in their target market of the American south and southwest, with "Terraplane Blues" something of a regional hit, but their sales figures were never beyond 5000 or so in total. [Marmorstein, Gary. "The Label: The Story of Columbia Records". New York, Thunder's Mouth Press: 2006; p. 87. ISBN 1-56025-707-5] By the time this album appeared, Johnson was mostly rumor, if known at all, except to a small group of collectors and those who had purchased the original 78s. An advance copy of the album was given by its instigator, John Hammond, to his newest signing to Columbia, Bob Dylan, who had never heard of Johnson and became mesmerized by the intensity of the recordings. [Ibid., p. 309.]

Hammond, who had initially searched for Johnson in 1938 to include him on the bill for the first of his "From Spirituals to Swing" concerts, prodded Columbia to assemble this record during the height of the folk revival. It was the first of the retrospective albums for folk, country, and blues artists of the 1920s and 1930s rediscovered in the wake of that revival, some of whom would be located and invited to appear at events such as the Newport Folk Festival. Nevertheless, Johnson's LP failed to make the charts, but the quality of Johnson's music was recognized and Johnson's reputation grew. The album became a badge of hip taste in the 1960s, evidenced by its appearance in the album cover photo to Bob Dylan's "Bringing It All Back Home" amid various emblems of bohemian life.Miller, James. "Flowers in the Dustbin: The Rise of Rock and Roll, 1947-1977". Simon & Schuster (1999), p. 185. ISBN 0-684-80873-0.] Songs from the album were repeatedly covered throughout the decade by many artists, notably Eric Clapton who recorded "Ramblin' On My Mind" on John Mayall's 1966 classic "Bluesbreakers" album, and "Cross Road Blues" with his own power trio Cream on the 1968 album "Wheels of Fire". Clapton would later record an entire disc of Johnson's songs, "Me and Mr. Johnson".

At the time of its release very little scholarship had been done on Johnson's life, and the album liner notes contain some inaccuracies and false conclusions, and a speculative portrait of Johnson's personality. As the two surviving portraits of him were discovered a decade later, the cover painting depicts a faceless musician in field clothes. The album was followed in 1970 by "King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. 2", including the remaining recordings at that time available by Johnson not on this record.

King of the Delta Blues Singers was reissued on September 15, 1998 by the Legacy Records subsidiary label of the Sony Corporaton, with a newly discovered alternate version of "Traveling Riverside Blues" appended as a bonus track. The original recording engineer for the 1936 sessions was Don Law; for the 1937 sessions it was Vin Liebler.

Track listing

ide One

References