Slow blues backing track series#

Ī second and third recording date took place in San Antonio after a two-day break. The songs include ' Terraplane Blues' (his first single and most popular record) along with ' Sweet Home Chicago' and ' I Believe I'll Dust My Broom', which became blues standards after others recorded them. They mostly represented his original pieces and reflected current, piano-influenced musical trends. During the first session, he recorded his most commercially appealing songs. Johnson recorded 22 songs for ARC over three days from November 23 to 27, 1936. After a second audition, Oertle arranged for Johnson to travel to San Antonio, Texas, for a recording session. Speir in Jackson, Mississippi Speir passed on Johnson's contact information to Ernie Oertle, who was a representative for ARC Records.

In October 1936, Johnson auditioned for music store owner and talent scout H.

Slow blues backing track series#

Clapton continues to be associated with the song and has used the name for the drug treatment center he founded and the series of music festivals to benefit it. Both have also led the song to be identified as a blues standard as well as a important piece in the repertoires of blues-inspired rock musicians. It also generated more interest in Johnson's work and helped later compilations of his songs to sell in numbers unprecedented for a 1930s Delta blues musician.īoth Johnson's and Cream's recordings of the song have received accolades from various organizations and publications. Their blues rock interpretation became one of their best-known songs and inspired many cover versions. In the late 1960s, guitarist Eric Clapton and the English rock group Cream popularized the song as 'Crossroads'. Elmore James' recordings in 19–1961 have been identified as perhaps the most significant of the earlier renditions. Over the years, various bluesmen have recorded versions of the song, usually as ensemble pieces with electrified guitars. This is based largely on folklore of the American South that identifies a crossroads as the site where such pacts are made, although the lyrics do not contain any references to Satan or a Faustian bargain. The song has become part of the Robert Johnson mythology as referring to the place where he supposedly sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for his musical talents. After the second was included on King of the Delta Blues Singers, a 1961 compilation album of some of Johnson's songs, it came to the attention of a wider audience. One was released as a single in 1937, which was heard mainly in the Mississippi Delta area. In 1936, he recorded two solo performances with his vocal and acoustic slide guitar in the Delta blues-style. ' Cross Road Blues' (commonly known as ' Crossroads') is a blues song written American blues artist Robert Johnson.