Robert Johnson's records mastered at wrong speed?

There's been controversy about this for years. It was common to speed up recordings due to both commercial and technical reasons. 78s held only 3 minutes and getting a more upbeat, commercial sound was desired. It's also been endlessly debated what guitar tunings RJ utilized. That debate strongly influences the overall speed issue. My opinion is that nobody will ever definitively know the exact speed he played during these sessions, which may be different than what he played in juke joints.

Fortunately, with modern digital tech it's fairly easy for anybody to experiment with slowing the songs down. I suggest you start at less than a 20% reduction. My impression is that his vocals sound much better, but the guitar playing, particularly his rhythmic drive doesn't sound right.

Gdoodle..My Shines recordings are still unreleased and now about 37 years old.They were live radio and club recordings made in Santa Barbara,California when i started the Santa Barbara Blues society-still going as we speak.The recordings WILL be released over the next few years.The recordings Pete Welding made for his Testament label "Standing at the crossroads"-a great album-remain the truest to Shines' Johnson interpretations.Like a lot of Delta migrants Shines made it to Chicago and recorded great Electric Blues in the 50's and 60's but returned to the acoustic type of Blues in the 70's and traveled around as a solo act.Back then these guys lived on the Greyhound bus and worked out of a suitcase and a guitar case.Shines was an amazing artist and a very warm and intelligent man who loved his art and loved people.I was fortunate to have met and interacted with many of these Blues artists when i was in my early 20's,they forged a profound understanding of music on me.

JazzCourier your experiences sound truly amazing; what a fortunate circumstance in which to be involved. Thanks much for sharing

Somebody needs to run this by Honeyboy Edwards. I believe he is one one of the last people around who played with Johnson. Talk about acoustic memory, this would be a new record.

While I certainly think it is possible that they are at the wrong speed, 20% seems like a rather high number.