There is no denying the cultural impact of folk blues great, Mr. Robert Johnson, but since Jon Wilde's 2010 blog post in The Guardian, there has been a public music-nerd debate simmering whether some of his sides were mastered too fast. There's no clear proof the sides were altered, tho' it's been suggested some recordings were sped up to fit the time limits of a 78 side or, maybe, as an effect to add "excitement." Even tho' the recording industry was kinda new, I'm sure the label bosses/producers would have allowed any tricks which might help sell their records. Or, perhaps, there were honest mistakes made in the recording or mastering process.

The recording process in 1936 was primitive; the standard was basically a single microphone hooked up to a lathe, which cut a 16" or 10" master lacquer. Still, there is no paper trail or hard evidence there was any manipulation and, 80 years on, there's a possibility of so MANY imagined variables! That said, if there was manipulation I'd wanna to hear the recordings at proper speed; I want to hear Johnson's song as he played them. However, flawed or not, the sides we know, as they were first issued on 78s in the '30s, then on two LPs in 1961, and then as a box set in 1990, ARE the still the sides that became folk blues canon and CHANGED (pop) culture.

Anyway, I don't have room for a song by song-by-song comparison; (try Truth Sayer if you need more comparisons), but here is the released version of Johnson's "Preachin' Blues (Up Jumped The Devil)." The slide work is impressive and quite speedy, but in no way faster than I've heard other blues pickers play. Now, dig the speed "corrected" version of "Preachin' Blues (Up Jumped The Devil);" it's no less exciting, but does have a more organic feeling.

Hmmm, as my knowledge of guitar playing is limited, might I ask y'all finger-picking guitar folks to weigh in on whether Johnson would, or would not, have played in certain keys. Changing the pitch of Johnson's records changes the key in which he seems to be playing, so I wonder if playing in certain keys would be more intuitive than others? Like, would playing in, say, A, be easier than C flat and, if SO, could that be the (ahem) key to solving this mystery?!