The Complete Recordings (Robert Johnson album)

The Complete Recordings
Compilation album by
Robert Johnson
ReleasedAugust 28, 1990 (1990-08-28)
Recorded
  • November 23–27, 1936
  • June 19–20, 1937
Studio
  • Gunter Hotel, San Antonio, Texas, US
  • Warner Brothers/Vitagraph Building, Dallas, Texas, US
GenreDelta blues
Length104:53
LabelColumbia
Producer
Robert Johnson chronology
King of the Delta Blues Singers, Vol. II
(1970) 		The Complete Recordings
(1990)

The Complete Recordings is a compilation album by American Delta blues musician Robert Johnson. The 41 songs were recorded in two sessions in Dallas and San Antonio, Texas for the American Record Company (ARC) during 1936 and 1937. Most were first released on 78 rpm records in 1937. The Complete Recordings, released August 28, 1990, by Columbia Records, contains every recording Johnson is known to have made, with the exception of an alternate take of "Traveling Riverside Blues".

The Complete Recordings peaked at number 80 on the Billboard 200 chart. The album sold more than a million copies,[1] and won a Grammy Award in 1991 for "Best Historical Album."[2] In 1992, the Blues Foundation inducted the album into the Blues Hall of Fame.[3] It also was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry in 2003.[4] Eric Clapton and Keith Richards contributed to the album liner notes with essays on Johnson's influence on their music.[5]

  1. ^ Bordowitz, Hank. Turning Points in Rock and Roll, Citadel Press (2004), page 22 – ISBN 0-8065-2631-9
  2. ^ "Awards". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  3. ^ Bragg, Rick. Journeys: Driving the Blues Trail, In Search of a Lost Muse. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2009-08-07.
  4. ^ "About This Program | National Recording Preservation Board | Programs | Library of Congress". Library of Congress. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  5. ^ "PBS - American Roots Music : The Songs and the Artists - Robert Johnson". Pbs.org. Retrieved 20 May 2021.