Hell Hound on My Trail’ was among the deepest and darkest of Robert Johnson’s legendary blues masterworks. Together with ‘Me and the Devil Blues’ and ‘Cross Road Blues,’ it provided future generations with a disturbing vision of a blues poet haunted by spirits, doomed to die before he would ever see the fruits of an alleged deal with the devil. Johnson’s lyrics are subject to more worldly interpretation, too, but whether he was singing of escaping from a creature from hell or from the ‘hell hounds’ used by Parchman Penitentiary guards to track escaped prisoners, there is no doubting the harrowed and forsaken depth of Johnson’s performance. As unique as his treatment was, the melody, the lyrics, and the hellish connection all bore elements of other records Johnson must have heard. In Chasin’ That Devil Music, co-author Ed Komara cites these songs as ‘melodic precedents’ to ‘Hell Hound on My Trail’:
‘Evil Devil Blues’ — Johnnie Temple (1935)
‘Evil Devil Woman Blues’ — The Mississippi Mudder (Joe McCoy) (1934)
‘Devil Got My Woman’ — Skip James (1931)
‘Yola My Blues Away’ — Skip James (1931)
In addition, the lyrics ‘If today was Christmas eve and tomorrow was Christmas day’ are adapted from a 1932 record, ‘Police Station Blues,’ by one of Johnson’s main influences, Peetie Wheatstraw, who billed himself as ‘The Devil’s Son-in-Law’ or ‘The High Sheriff From Hell.’
Robert Johnson, vocal and guitar. Recorded June 20, 1937, Dallas, Texas. Released on A.R.C.labels (Banner, Melotone, Oriole, Perfect, and Romeo) 7-09-56 in September 1937; also on Vocalion 03623 (all 78 rpm). First reissued on LP: King of the Delta Blues Singers, Columbia CL 1654, in 1961, with spelling changed to ‘Hellhound on My Trail’.
Discographical details from Blues and Gospel Records 1890-1943.
— Jim O’Neal
www.stackhouse-bluesoterica.blogspot.com