by David Gonzales

Created on: November 19, 2008

Legendary talent scout John Hammond, who died in 1987, is famously revered for having discovered such illustrious musical figures as Billie Holiday, Count Basie, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen, among a host of others. There is another musical giant, however, sadly overlooked on this Hammond Walk of Fame, who deserves a prominent spot. In fact, in terms of artistry, many would place him at the top.

That person is Robert Johnson (1911 1938), widely regarded as the greatest figure in the history of the blues. While not much known during his short lifetime, Johnson's music would come to exert an enormous influence on the 1960's rock scene (and beyond) via such fervent admirers as Eric Clapton, Keith Richards and Bob Dylan, to name but a few. Prompting this interest was a 1961 Columbia Records release, "Robert Johnson - King of the Delta Blues Singers", which contained much of Johnson's recorded output.

Significantly, while the album was produced by Frank Driggs, it was all done under the supervision of one John Hammond, as noted by Elijah Wald in his seminal 2004 study, "Escaping the Delta Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues". It's no accident Hammond was involved with this project, as he had decided over twenty years earlier that Johnson was a supremely talented artist, the best the blues had to offer.

While working as a freelance producer in for Columbia Records in the mid-1930's, Hammond came across Johnson's music via his access to the company's catalogue (Columbia had acquired Vocalion, the label for which Johnson recorded), and was so impressed that he said so in print. For a number of years as a music man, Hammond also contributed to various magazines and newspapers, including The New York Times, The Nation, jazz magazine Down Beat and British music magazine, Melody Maker.

According to Dunstan Prial in his lauded 2006 Hammond biography, "The Producer John Hammond and the Soul of American Music", Hammond also wrote for a Marxist literary magazine called New Masses, though he did so under a pseudonym, Henry Johnson. It was under this name that on March 2, 1937, an article he wrote citing Robert Johnson appeared in New Masses, the first time, in Prial's estimation, that Johnson received national attention:

"Before closing, we cannot help but call your attention to the greatest Negro blues singer who has cropped up in recent years, Robert Johnson. Recording them in deepest Mississippi, Vocalion has certainly done right by us in the tunes "Last

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