I have only heard one person pull this off successfully. Paul James is a very talented Toronto player who often does a solo acoustic show. He does Phonograph, 32-20, Terraplane, Sweet Home Chicago, They're Red Hot, Walking Blues and I think one or two others, but he mixes them in with Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, Howlin' Wolf, Dylan and many others. Paul's band has a strong following in the Toronto area and it is because of his twenty some odd years of exposure with his band that he is able to draw an audience for his solo shows. I think most of his audience go to his guitar playing (wonderful). Paul also puts his own stamp on these songs. I think if one tried to do an evening of Robert Johnson it could be disastrous. I think it would only draw blues purists and if you couldn't play it almost exactly like Robert did the audience would be upset.

There have been some great acoustic covers of Robert's stuff. Johnny Winter doing Kind Hearted Woman and 32-20 are what made me seek out Robert. The late Joanne Kelly did a wonderful Come On In My Kitchen. Keb Mo does a pretty neat version of that one too.

If you like Robert check out Son House. He,Charley Patton and Willie Brown were apparently RJ's biggest influences. I haven't been able to find a decent recording of Patton and nothing by Willie Brown, but Son House is the real deal. Nowhere near the player that Johnson was, but a great singer and writer. His Death Letter Blues is a Blues classic.