Robert Johnson discography

A detailed listing of all known recordings by blues musician Robert Johnson. Eleven Johnson 78s were released on the Vocalion label during his lifetime, with a twelfth issued posthumously.[1] All songs are copyrighted to Robert Johnson, and his estate.[2]

After their initial run in the late 1930s, issued as well on ARC sister labels such as Melotone, Perfect, and Banner, his recordings remained out of print until the appearance of "Preachin' Blues" on the 1959 Samuel Charters compilation for Folkways Records, The Country Blues. In the midst of the American folk music revival, John Hammond convinced Columbia Records in 1961 to issue the first Johnson album, King of the Delta Blues Singers, compiled by Hammond himself. It contained three previously unissued tracks: "If I Had Possession over Judgment Day;" "When You Got a Good Friend" take 2; and "Traveling Riverside Blues" take 1. A sequel LP, assembling the rest of the master recordings, an unreleased second take of "Kind Hearted Woman Blues" and two additional unreleased songs, the first takes of "Phonograph Blues" and "Drunken Hearted Man", was issued in 1970 as King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II. An omnibus two-CD set, The Complete Recordings, was released in 1990 containing 41 known recordings of 29 songs. Johnson's additional five credited compositions to the 24 issued on Vocalion are "If I Had Possession over Judgment Day", "When You Got a Good Friend", "Traveling Riverside Blues", "Phonograph Blues", and "Drunken Hearted Man".

On September 15, 1998, Columbia/Legacy reissued King of the Delta Blues Singers remastered for compact disc, with the second volume appearing on August 10, 2004. They reproduce the original albums, without the alternates and false starts found on the box set Complete collection. The first volume includes an alternate take of "Traveling Riverside Blues" heretofore undiscovered and previously unissued, which brings the number of known Johnson recordings to forty-two. In Crossroads: The Life and Afterlife of Blues Legend Robert Johnson author Tom Graves states that Johnson originally made 59 recordings that were shipped to New York. In the book he also lists several "lost" songs that were composed by Robert Johnson but not recorded by him that were recorded by others, including blues artists Johnny Shines and Robert Lockwood Jr.

Recording DateMatrixSongCatalogRelease DateTime
1936-11-23SA 2580-1"Kind Hearted Woman Blues"Vocalion 0341619372:49
1936-11-23SA 2580-2"Kind Hearted Woman Blues"Columbia 3003419702:31
1936-11-23SA 2581-1"I Believe I'll Dust My Broom"Vocalion 0347519372:56
1936-11-23SA 2582-1"Sweet Home Chicago"Vocalion 0360119372:59
1936-11-23SA 2583-1"Ramblin' on My Mind"Vocalion 0351919372:51
1936-11-23SA 2583-2"Ramblin' on My Mind"Columbia 4622219902:20
1936-11-23SA 2584-1"When You Got a Good Friend"Columbia 4622219902:37
1936-11-23SA 2584-2"When You Got a Good Friend"Columbia LP-165419612:50
1936-11-23SA 2585-1"Come on in My Kitchen"Vocalion 0356319372:47
1936-11-23SA 2585-2"Come on in My Kitchen"Columbia 4622219902:35
1936-11-23SA 2586-1"Terraplane Blues"Vocalion 0341619373:00
1936-11-23SA 2587-1"Phonograph Blues"Columbia 3003419702:37
1936-11-23SA 2587-2"Phonograph Blues"Columbia 4622219902:32
1936-11-26SA 2616-2"32-20 Blues"Vocalion 0344519372:51
1936-11-27SA 2627-1"They're Red Hot"Vocalion 0356319372:56
1936-11-27SA 2628-2"Dead Shrimp Blues"Vocalion 0347519372:30
1936-11-27SA 2629-1"Cross Road Blues"Vocalion 0351919372:39
1936-11-27SA 2629-2"Cross Road Blues"Columbia 4622219612:29
1936-11-27SA 2630-1"Walking Blues"Vocalion 0360119372:28
1936-11-27SA 2631-1"Last Fair Deal Gone Down"Vocalion 0344519372:39
1936-11-27SA 2632-1"Preaching Blues (Up Jumped the Devil)"Vocalion 0463019392:50
1936-11-27SA 2633-1"If I Had Possession over Judgment Day"Columbia LP-165419612:34
1937-06-19DAL 377-2"Stones in My Passway"Vocalion 0372319372:27
1937-06-19DAL 378-1"I'm a Steady Rollin' Man"Vocalion 0372319372:35
1937-06-19DAL 379-1"From Four Until Late"Vocalion 0362319372:23
1937-06-20DAL 394-2"Hellhound on My Trail"Vocalion 0362319372:35
1937-06-20DAL 395-1"Little Queen of Spades"Vocalion 0410819382:11
1937-06-20DAL 395-2"Little Queen of Spades"Columbia 4622219702:15
1937-06-20DAL 396-1"Malted Milk"Vocalion 0366519372:17
1937-06-20DAL 397-1"Drunken Hearted Man"Columbia 3003419702:24
1937-06-20DAL 397-2"Drunken Hearted Man"Columbia 4622219902:19
1937-06-20DAL 398-1"Me and the Devil Blues"Columbia 4622219902:37
1937-06-20DAL 398-2"Me and the Devil Blues"Vocalion 0410819382:29
1937-06-20DAL 399-1"Stop Breakin' Down Blues"Vocalion 0400219382:16
1937-06-20DAL 399-2"Stop Breakin' Down Blues"Columbia 4622219902:21
1937-06-20DAL 400-1"Traveling Riverside Blues"Columbia LP-165419612:47
1937-06-20DAL 400-2"Traveling Riverside Blues"Columbia 6574619982:39
1937-06-20DAL 401-1"Honeymoon Blues"Vocalion 0400219382:16
1937-06-20DAL 402-1"Love in Vain"Columbia 4622219902:28
1937-06-20DAL 402-2"Love in Vain"Vocalion 0463019392:19
1937-06-20DAL 403-1"Milkcow's Calf Blues"Vocalion 0366519372:14
1937-06-20DAL 403-2"Milkcow's Calf Blues"Columbia 4622219902:20

References

  1. Komara (2007) pp. 63-68
  2. Johnson's songs were the subject of a lawsuit regarding the copyright. In 2000, the court held that the songs were not in the public domain and that legal title belonged to the Estate of Robert Johnson and its successors."ABKCO Music v. Stephen LaVere". U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. June 26, 2000. Archived from the original on March 25, 2012. Retrieved November 12, 2010.
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