Johnson's recordings took place in 1936 and '37, just before his death, supposedly from poisoning by a lover's jealous husband, in 1938, making him the first member of the "27 Club." This album, half of which weas originally issued as 78 RPM singles and the rest comprised of never-before-released takes, coincided with the spread of rumors that Johnson sold his soul to the Devil at a Mississippi crossroads in return for his musical talent. You wouldn't be ill served with a compilation of Johnson's complete recordings, but you might as well start with the LP that introduced the legend to the world when it was released in 1961. Robert Johnson: King of the Delta Blues Singers So, based on personal experience and some hindsight after further exploration, here are 10 albums for anyone looking to start a collection of essential blues albums, with many apologies to the dozens of pioneers I left out. Thanks to that teacher, a public library with an expansive CD and book selection, a lot of friends to jam with and understanding parents who'd take me to the local Cajun restaurant to see some great cover bands and, later, the Stones at Madison Square Garden, I got to know the blues at a relatively early age. From there, we worked backwards, learning the scales, and a lot of the history, like who influenced, covered and/or ripped off who. Rather than just lead me through those tracks and have me mimic along, he said, "A lot of what you like is based on the blues, so I'll teach you about that, and then you'll be able to figure out the rest (though, to be fair, we did start with "House of the Rising Sun" and "Sunshine of Your Love" as the gateway into learning chords). He asked me to list 10 songs I wanted to learn and, outside of a couple alt-rock songs that were popular on MTV at the moment, I leaned more heavily on acts I learned about from my parents: Hendrix, the Stones, Cream, Zeppelin, the Doors, etc. When I was a kid, my parents bought me a guitar and got me lessons from a local teacher.