I’ve made a list of over 17,000 albums to listen to, which should map out a history of Rock music in a rough chronological order. These are the ones I either rate highly or consider important to the story of Rock music. All albums can be found on my Musicboard profile linked in bio
King of the Delta Blues Singers by Robert Johnson
Whole lot of spirit on this album. The speed of Johnson’s playing is mixed up, with his voice adding another layer of interest to the songs. Several songs may follow the same basic blues pattern but there’s more than enough going on to hold your attention
Complete Jazz Series 1938-1939 by Pete Johnson
Excellent collection of piano based boogie jazz. An hour long compilation that flies by. The Boogie aspects of these songs really stands out, and of course just makes this a really fun listen
Leadbelly Vol. 1 1939-1940 by Leadbelly
Huddie Leadbetter has one of the finest recording voices I’ve ever heard. The man can sing super softly and bellow when needed, and has an incredible sense of rhythm in his voice. Oh and he’s a fine guitar player too. Everyone should check him out at some point in their lives
I love his adaption of "Where did you sleep last night?"
Thankfully Nirvana did a cover version of Leadbelly's adaption of WDYSLN in the 90s (this is how I discovered him).
Good music is simply timeless.
@dani yeah the Nirvana cover is how first heard of Leadbelly as well. There’s about 6 or 7 compilations in the series of this album I posted, they’re all great and worth checking out