Week 48
Blind Willie Johnson, The Complete Blind Willie Johnson
(Columbia/Legacy C2K52835)

Throughout their history, blues and gospel music have had an intermingled yet tense relationship, an ongoing struggle between "Saturday Night Temptation" and "Sunday Morning Revelation.” Many musicians have attempted to navigate this divide. For example, legendary country bluesmen Charlie Patton and Blind Lemon Jefferson incorporated hymns into their repertoires, while Son House, who was a preacher long before he picked up a guitar to play the blues, remained audibly torn between the sacred and the secular for much of his musical life.

Unlike these figures, Blind Willie Johnson was strictly a gospel performer, but the sheer emotional and musical intensity of his playing has so much in common with early country blues that he’s widely considered one of the genre’s towering figures. Hearing Blind Willie Johnson is an unforgettable experience—his gruff baritone, called into relief by occasional female accompaniment, sings and shouts with a commitment that simply cannot be ignored, while his bottle-neck guitar playing has few equals.

This collection, released as part of Sony/Columbia's pioneering "Roots N' Blues" series, gathers all of Johnson's known recordings onto two discs. These 30 restored and remastered tracks—emotionally charged and played with stunning dedication —form one of the most dramatic catalogs in American music.

Listen: Blind Willie Johnson - "If I Had My Way I'd Tear The Building Down"
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