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 In Crossroads: The Life and Afterlife of Blues Legend Robert Johnson author Tom Graves states that Johnson originally made 59 recordings that were shipped to New York.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 Date | Matrix | Song | Catalog | Release Date | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1936-11-23 | SA 2580-1 | "Kind Hearted Woman Blues" | Vocalion 03416 | 1937 | 2:49 |
| 1936-11-23 | SA 2580-2 | "Kind Hearted Woman Blues" | Columbia 30034 | 1970 | 2:31 |
| 1936-11-23 | SA 2581-1 | "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" | Vocalion 03475 | 1937 | 2:56 |
| 1936-11-23 | SA 2582-1 | "Sweet Home Chicago" | Vocalion 03601 | 1937 | 2:59 |
| 1936-11-23 | SA 2583-1 | "Ramblin' on My Mind" | Vocalion 03519 | 1937 | 2:51 |
| 1936-11-23 | SA 2583-2 | "Ramblin' on My Mind" | Columbia 46222 | 1990 | 2:20 |
| 1936-11-23 | SA 2584-1 | "When You Got a Good Friend" | Columbia 46222 | 1990 | 2:37 |
| 1936-11-23 | SA 2584-2 | "When You Got a Good Friend" | Columbia LP-1654 | 1961 | 2:50 |
| 1936-11-23 | SA 2585-1 | "Come on in My Kitchen" | Vocalion 03563 | 1937 | 2:47 |
| 1936-11-23 | SA 2585-2 | "Come on in My Kitchen" | Columbia 46222 | 1990 | 2:35 |
| 1936-11-23 | SA 2586-1 | "Terraplane Blues" | Vocalion 03416 | 1937 | 3:00 |
| 1936-11-23 | SA 2587-1 | "Phonograph Blues" | Columbia 30034 | 1970 | 2:37 |
| 1936-11-23 | SA 2587-2 | "Phonograph Blues" | Columbia 46222 | 1990 | 2:32 |
| 1936-11-26 | SA 2616-2 | "32-20 Blues" | Vocalion 03445 | 1937 | 2:51 |
| 1936-11-27 | SA 2627-1 | "They're Red Hot" | Vocalion 03563 | 1937 | 2:56 |
| 1936-11-27 | SA 2628-2 | "Dead Shrimp Blues" | Vocalion 03475 | 1937 | 2:30 |
| 1936-11-27 | SA 2629-1 | "Cross Road Blues" | Vocalion 03519 | 1937 | 2:39 |
| 1936-11-27 | SA 2629-2 | "Cross Road Blues" | Columbia 46222 | 1961 | 2:29 |
| 1936-11-27 | SA 2630-1 | "Walking Blues" | Vocalion 03601 | 1937 | 2:28 |
| 1936-11-27 | SA 2631-1 | "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" | Vocalion 03445 | 1937 | 2:39 |
| 1936-11-27 | SA 2632-1 | "Preaching Blues (Up Jumped the Devil)" | Vocalion 04630 | 1939 | 2:50 |
| 1936-11-27 | SA 2633-1 | "If I Had Possession over Judgment Day" | Columbia LP-1654 | 1961 | 2:34 |
| 1937-06-19 | DAL 377-2 | "Stones in My Passway" | Vocalion 03723 | 1937 | 2:27 |
| 1937-06-19 | DAL 378-1 | "I'm a Steady Rollin' Man" | Vocalion 03723 | 1937 | 2:35 |
| 1937-06-19 | DAL 379-1 | "From Four Until Late" | Vocalion 03623 | 1937 | 2:23 |
| 1937-06-20 | DAL 394-2 | "Hellhound on My Trail" | Vocalion 03623 | 1937 | 2:35 |
| 1937-06-20 | DAL 395-1 | "Little Queen of Spades" | Vocalion 04108 | 1938 | 2:11 |
| 1937-06-20 | DAL 395-2 | "Little Queen of Spades" | Columbia 46222 | 1970 | 2:15 |
| 1937-06-20 | DAL 396-1 | "Malted Milk" | Vocalion 03665 | 1937 | 2:17 |
| 1937-06-20 | DAL 397-1 | "Drunken Hearted Man" | Columbia 30034 | 1970 | 2:24 |
| 1937-06-20 | DAL 397-2 | "Drunken Hearted Man" | Columbia 46222 | 1990 | 2:19 |
| 1937-06-20 | DAL 398-1 | "Me and the Devil Blues" | Columbia 46222 | 1990 | 2:37 |
| 1937-06-20 | DAL 398-2 | "Me and the Devil Blues" | Vocalion 04108 | 1938 | 2:29 |
| 1937-06-20 | DAL 399-1 | "Stop Breakin' Down Blues" | Vocalion 04002 | 1938 | 2:16 |
| 1937-06-20 | DAL 399-2 | "Stop Breakin' Down Blues" | Columbia 46222 | 1990 | 2:21 |
| 1937-06-20 | DAL 400-1 | "Traveling Riverside Blues" | Columbia LP-1654 | 1961 | 2:47 |
| 1937-06-20 | DAL 400-2 | "Traveling Riverside Blues" | Columbia 65746 | 1998 | 2:39 |
| 1937-06-20 | DAL 401-1 | "Honeymoon Blues" | Vocalion 04002 | 1938 | 2:16 |
| 1937-06-20 | DAL 402-1 | "Love in Vain" | Columbia 46222 | 1990 | 2:28 |
| 1937-06-20 | DAL 402-2 | "Love in Vain" | Vocalion 04630 | 1939 | 2:19 |
| 1937-06-20 | DAL 403-1 | "Milkcow's Calf Blues" | Vocalion 03665 | 1937 | 2:14 |
| 1937-06-20 | DAL 403-2 | "Milkcow's Calf Blues" | Columbia 46222 | 1990 | 2:20 |
References
- Komara (2007) pp. 63-68
- 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.