Release · 1961 · Mississippi Delta [33.80, -90.40]

King of the Delta Blues Singers

Released by Columbia in 1961, this compilation gathered Robert Johnson's 1936 and 1937 recordings onto a single album for the first time. Decades after his death, it placed his music in front of a new generation of listeners and musicians, including the young British and American players who would build rock on it. More than any other release, it transformed Johnson from an obscure name into the central legend of the Delta blues.

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  • influenced by → The Complete Recordings

    The 1990 box set The Complete Recordings extended the work begun by the 1961 album King of the Delta Blues Singers, which had first brought Robert Johnson's sessions to a postwar audience. Where the earlier release planted his legend, the box set completed it, gathering every surviving take and winning new acclaim. Together the two reissues turned a handful of 1930s discs into a permanent cornerstone of the canon.

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