Robert Johnson is known as “The King of The Delta Blues,” and “The Father of Rock ‘n Roll.” Despite his enormous influence, Johnson’s musical career lasted barely six years, and he conducted just two recording sessions. He died in 1938, at the age of 27, and was more or less forgotten. This changed dramatically after the release in 1961 of The King Of Delta Blues Singers, an album with 16 of his songs that showcased him playing a mixture of blues and, astonishingly, some kind of prototype rock ‘n roll, more than two decades before rock ‘n roll was actually invented. The album turned Johnson into one of the founding fathers of rock ‘n roll.
Johnson became a major influence on pretty much every British rock and blues guitar player in the 1960s, and on artists and bands like Bob Dylan, Ry Cooder, Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones, Cream, Led Zeppelin, and many, many more. Bob Dylan wrote, “Robert Johnson was one of the most inventive geniuses of all time. We still haven’t caught up with him.” Keith Richards remarked, “You want to know how good the blues can get? Well, this is it.” Eric Clapton stated that Johnson was “the greatest folk-blues guitar player that ever lived, and the greatest singer,” with “the most powerful cry you can hear in the human voice.”
Since his rediscovery in the 1960s, Johnson’s influence has spread wide and far. Artists not only name-check him, but many also cover his songs. Those that have include Cream, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Fleetwood Mac, ZZ Top, The Allman Brothers Band, Peter Green Todd Rundgren, and The White Stripes. In 2004, Eric Clapton recorded an entire album of Robert Johnson covers, called Me and Mr Johnson.
Johnson was inducted in the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980 and in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986. In 1990, the double album The Complete Recordings was released, consisting of everything Johnson recorded: just 29 songs and 13 alternate takes. The collection received a Grammy Award for Best Historical Album, and was inducted in the National Recording Registry in 2003 as historically and culturally significant. In 1998, Johnson was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award followed in 2006.
