
The 29 songs that blues pioneer Robert Johnson wrote and recorded have been covered by rockers from Led Zeppelin to the White Stripes. Clapton himself delved into the songbook while a member of Cream and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. But these loving interpretations represent the first time he’s devoted an entire album to the seminal bluesman—it’s a wonder it wasn’t done before. On gritty classics like “Love in Vain” and “Come On in My Kitchen,” ol’ Slowhand has rarely sounded so inspired.