Robert Johnson recordings

[2] After the successful release of "Terraplane Blues" in March 1937, additional recording sessions took place in Dallas, Texas.

[2] On Saturday and Sunday, June 19 and 20, 1937, Johnson, again performing solo, was recorded in an unused storage area on the third floor of the former Vitagraph and Warner Bros.

[7] While it was standard practice for an individual in Law's position to guide musicians during recording, it is not known what, if any, input he had in shaping Johnson's material.

[9] Law's recollection that Johnson performed facing the wall led some early writers to conclude that he was "extremely shy" or "suffering from a bad case of stage fright".

[10] Guitarist Ry Cooder added to the speculation that Johnson was using a technique referred to as "corner loading" to enhance his guitar sound for the recordings.

[10] However, both ideas are refuted by Bruce Conforth and Gayle Dean Wardlow, authors of a 2019 biography of Johnson.

They note that Johnson only turned his back on one occasion when asked to play for other musicians who were in the studio, following his practice of shielding his techniques from scrutiny by other guitarists.

[18] These early 78s were the source of Johnson's music until his songs were later released on long playing (LP) record albums.

[20] However, this idea has been disputed by biographer Elijah Wald, who concluded: Some of Johnson’s tracks may have been issued at slightly inaccurate speeds (for example, recorded at 76 r.p.m.

and played back at 78), but it is wildly improbable (bordering on impossible) that all of them have been issued at a single, consistent, wrong speed.

[19] In 1961, Columbia released King of the Delta Blues Singers, the first album to feature Johnson exclusively.

[1] When The Complete Recordings was updated in 2011 for the centennial of Johnson's birth, the extra track was included, bringing the total to 42.