Another genre jump here back into some Blues. Robert Johnson is one of the most influential Blues musicians to have graced the genre. While his career was short, he died at 27, his works remain an influence across multiple genres of music. His entire career can be summed up in two recording session. The first one taking place in a hotel room in San Antonio Texas in 1936. Those sessions yielded such tracks as 'Cross Road Blues' and 'Last Fair Deal Gone Down'. In 1937 he traveled to Dallas Texas for another session, yielding more cuts. Most of the songs that survived were multiple takes. Just a year later he would die. Although no official cause of death was ever listed, the rumor that fills the mystery is that he was poisoned with Strychnine in a whiskey bottle after flirting with a married woman at a bar. Of course the larger mystery that surrounds him is the Faustian legend of him selling his soul to the devil in exchange for become a great Blues musician. 'The Complete Recordings' features all original 29 tracks and 13 alternate takes that survived the 36-37 recording sessions. This is a 2 CD set a pretty much should be in every blues/rock fans home.
Robert Johnson's music has been widely influential across all genres. To give a reader a small example, 'Cross Road Blues' years later was reworked and made famous by Cream. Further reaching Clapton released a record called 'Me and Mr. Johnson', the album focused on covering his songs. Swedish death/doom/gothic metal band Katatonia named one of their records 'Last Fair Deal Gone Down'. Even Porky Pig can be heard singing 'They're Red Hot' in a Looney Tunes cartoon. This isn't necessarily where the Blues began, but it in fact is a rather important part of Blues history.
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