"Cross Road Blues" (also known as "Crossroads") is a blues song written and recorded by American blues artist Robert Johnson in 1936. Johnson performed it as a solo piece with his vocal and acoustic slide guitar in the Delta blues-style. The song has become part of the Robert Johnson mythology as referring to the place where he supposedly sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for his musical talents, although the lyrics do not contain any specific references. Bluesman Elmore James revived the song with recordings in 1954 and 1960-1961.

Little is known about Johnson's life and musical career, although his recordings are well documented. In October 1936, Johnson auditioned for music store owner and sometime talent scout H. C. Speir in Jackson, Mississippi; Speir passed on Johnson's contact information to Ernie Oertle, who was a representative for ARC Records. After a second audition, Oertle arranged for Johnson to travel to San Antonio, Texas, for a recording session. Johnson recorded 22 songs for ARC over three days from November 23 to 27, 1936. During the first session, he recorded his most commercially appealing songs. They mostly represented his original pieces and reflected current, piano-influenced musical trends. The songs include "Terraplane Blues" (his first single and most popular record) along with "Sweet Home Chicago" and "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom", which became blues standards after others recorded them.  A second and third recording date took place in San Antonio after a two-day break. Johnson reached back into his long-standing repertoire for songs to record. The material reflects the styles of country blues performers Charley Patton and Son House, who influenced Johnson in his youth. The songs are among Johnson's most heartfelt and forceful, and music historian Ted Gioia sees a shift in the lyrical themes:  At the close of the San Antonio session, the darker, more apocalyptic side of Johnson's work emerges ... [he] evokes the themes of damnation and redemption, darkness and light ... glimpses into the musician's inner life, and all its attendant turmoils.  "Cross Road Blues" was recorded during Johnson's third session in San Antonio, on Friday November 27, 1936. The sessions continued at an improvised studio in Room 414 at the Gunter Hotel. ARC producers Art Satherley and Don Law supervised the recording and used a portable disc cutting machine. It is unknown what input, if any, they had into Johnson's selection of material to record or how to present it. Two similar takes of the song were recorded.

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