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. All songs are copyrighted to Robert Johnson, and his estate.

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. In the UK, both albums were issued as a two-LP set by Blue Diamond Records in 1985 under the same name, King of the Delta Blues Singers. 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 In Crossroads: The Life and Afterlife of Blues Legend Robert Johnson author Tom Graves states that Johnson originally made 59 recordings that were shipped to New York.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 2627-2	"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	1990	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