King of the Delta Blues Singers

Columbia Records faced an unprecedented challenge in 1961 when compiling the first album dedicated to Robert Johnson's work. No photographs of the legendary Delta blues musician had been discovered, leaving the label with no visual representation for one of the most important blues reissues ever attempted.

The solution came from Burt Goldblatt, an American art director, graphic designer, and photographer who had built his reputation creating album covers for jazz labels including CBS, Decca, Atlantic, Savoy, Bethlehem, and Jolly Roger Records. Goldblatt was commissioned to create an original painting that would capture the essence of Johnson without relying on his actual likeness.

Goldblatt's artistic vision resulted in a striking overhead view of a faceless musician seated on a stool, guitar in hand, dressed in simple field clothes. The painting employed vibrant colors, strong outlines, and what critics described as an "effective chiaroscuro-like blend of sunlight and shade." The unusual perspective and deliberately obscured face perfectly embodied Johnson's growing mythical status.

The cover's creation process was purely artistic, with Goldblatt drawing on his extensive experience in jazz album design. Having honed his craft photographing musicians in bars and jazz clubs, Goldblatt understood the visual language needed to convey musical authenticity. He created the painting specifically for this release, knowing it would introduce Johnson's work to a new generation during the height of the folk revival.

Burt Goldblatt (1924-2006) had established himself as a master of album cover design, particularly for jazz recordings. His approach combined his skills as both photographer and painter, often using photographs as source material for artistic interpretations. For the Johnson album, he worked purely from imagination, creating an archetype of the Delta blues musician.

The album's release in 1961 was masterminded by John Hammond, who had originally sought out Johnson in 1938 for a Carnegie Hall concert, only to discover the musician had recently died. Producer Frank Driggs assembled the compilation during the folk revival, making it among the first retrospective albums of 1920s and 1930s blues artists to be rediscovered.

While the album failed to chart commercially, it became what critics called "a badge of hip taste in the 1960s." The cover's mystique was enhanced by its appearance in Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home album cover photo, nestled among other emblems of counter-culture life. British blues musicians, including Eric Clapton and members of the Rolling Stones, discovered the album and were profoundly influenced by both the music and its mysterious visual presentation.

Interestingly, critics later noted that Goldblatt's design bore similarities to an earlier album cover by Reginald Mount for a Blind Lemon Jefferson reissue on the London label. However, Goldblatt's overhead perspective and artistic execution created a distinctly different and more iconic image that resonated with the emerging rock generation.

The cover's visual impact was amplified by Goldblatt's understanding of color and composition. His background in jazz photography informed his ability to capture the essence of musical performance in static imagery. The painting's deliberate ambiguity about Johnson's appearance only added to the legend that he had made a Faustian bargain with the devil.

The album's cultural legacy extends far beyond its initial release. In 1980, King of the Delta Blues Singers became the first album inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone ranked it number 374 on its 2020 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, while Mojo magazine placed it sixth on its list of 100 Records That Changed the World.

The original Burt Goldblatt painting used for the cover has since become a sought-after artifact. Liner notes from later reissues included a producer's note seeking information about the painting's location, indicating its significance to blues historians and collectors.

Decades later, when the two surviving photographs of Robert Johnson were finally discovered in the 1970s, they revealed how perfectly Goldblatt's artistic interpretation had captured the spirit of the Delta blues tradition, even without ever seeing the man himself.