“Hellhound on My Trail” is released in 1937. The legendary blues musician Robert Johnson uses the religious imagery of hellhounds pursuing a sinner to address his fear of lynching in the South. It is considered one of Johnson’s best songs as well as one of the greatest blues songs ever written and one of NPR’s “100 most important American musical works of the 20th century.”
This Day in Halloween: Legendary blues musician Robert Johnson's classic “Hellhound on My Trail” is released in 1937. / Photo courtesy 1989 Delta Haze Corporation
