King Of The Delta Blues Singers [Remaster]

Performer: Robert Johnson
Engineer: Vincent Liebler
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: This reissue of KING OF THE DELTA BLUES SINGERS contains 1 previously unreleased track. Solo performer: Robert Johnson (vocals, acoustic guitar). Producer: Don Law. LP reissue producer: Frank Driggs. CD reissue producer: Lawrence Cohn. Recorded in San Antonio, Texas on November 23 & 26-27, 1936 and Dallas, Texas on June 19-20, 1937. Original LP released on Columbia Records (1961). Includes original liner notes by Frank Driggs. Includes reissue liner notes by Peter Guralnick. Digitally remastered by Robert Vosgien (CMS Digital, Pasadena, California). Solo performer: Robert Johnson (vocals, acoustic guitar). Compilation producer: Frank Driggs. Reissue producer: Lawrence Cohn. Recorded in San Antonio, Texas on November 23 & 26-27, 1936 and Dallas, Texas on June 19-20, 1937. This is part of Columbia/Legacy's Master Sound series. Master Sound releases are 24-karat gold CDs remastered from first-generation masters. This process utilizes 20-bit technology and Sony's "Super Bit Mapping" system. Personnel: Robert Johnson (vocals, guitar). Audio Remasterer: Stanley Weiss. Liner Note Author: Peter Guralnick. Recording information: 11/23/1936-06/20/1937. Editor: Frank Driggs. Unknown Contributor Role: Michael Donaldson. Of all the early blues singers and players, Robert Johnson towers above all the others. He lived fast, died young, and left a small body of music that laid the groundwork for electric blues as well as rock & roll. Johnson had a unique voice, capable of deep growlings and grumblings and eerie, almost ghostly wails and moans. His guitar illustrated his stories, making any other instruments irrelevant. His songs conveyed a sense of a man trying to outrun a pack of demons ("Hell Hound on My Trail," "Cross Road Blues"), were autobiographical ("I'm a Steady Rollin' Man") and, of course, dealt with love troubles ("From Four Until Late," "Love in Vain"). Johnson's songs have become blues standards--"Sweet Home Chicago," "Dust My Broom," and many others have been adapted by many rock bands, from the Rolling Stones' version of "Love in Vain" to the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "They're Red Hot." If you want to hear the main architect of the twin dynasties of blues and rock & roll (who also influenced folk and country music), Robert Johnson is the man, and KING is a beautifully annotated introduction.

Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.104) - Ranked #27 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "...Johnson recorded only twenty-nine songs, but their evanescent passion has resonated through the decades..." Rolling Stone (12/2/70, p.50) - "...Johnson is just incredible: a great guitarist, a brilliant song writer, a tremendous singer...it's the highest art, the greatest beauty imaginable..." Q (7/01, p.86) - Included in Q's "50 Heaviest Albums of All Time" - "...Music that is stark, possessed and frighteningly intense..." Down Beat (5/24/62) - 5 Stars - Excellent - "...He was a haunting singer and a poet....there is a variety of tempo and rhythm and attitude here that is a credit to the tradition, and in the hoarse directness of Johnson's voice there is an immediacy that cuts...through the 25 years since these tracks were made....His kind of emotional honesty takes bravery....Honor Robert Johnson...." Down Beat (5/24/62) - 5 Stars - Excellent - "...He was a haunting singer and a poet....there is a variety of tempo and rhythm and attitude here that is a credit to the tradition, and in the hoarse directness of Johnson's voice there is an immediacy that cuts...through the 25 years since these tracks were made....Those words are strong on paper, but when one hears Johnson sing them they are stronger still, and beautiful. His kind of emotional honesty takes bravery....Honor Robert Johnson...." Vibe (12/99, p.158) - Included in Vibe's 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century Living Blues (1-2/99, p.78) - "...will no doubt be irresistible to hardcore Johnson fans."

Robert Johnson is the most legendary of Delta blues singers, and while the facts of his real life are scarce, tall tales abound--most commonly that he sold his soul to the devil in order to master the guitar. Johnson invested his music with frightening emotional power. His high, ghostly wail (not unlike that of Skip James) and his dauntingly nimble guitar work (at times it sounds like he has four hands) add drama to his songs, already rich in emotion. Though his entire catalog consists of a mere 29 songs recorded between 1936 and '37, Johnson's music cast a long shadow over following generations of bluesmen, and his influence on rock & roll--musically and mythically--has been profound.

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