 " Cross Road Blues " was recorded during Johnson 's third session in San Antonio , on Friday November 27 , 1936 . The sessions continued at an improvised studio in Room 414 at the Gunter Hotel . ARC producers Art Satherley and Don Law supervised the recording and used a portable disc cutting machine . It is unknown what input , if any , they had into Johnson 's selection of material to record or how to present it . Two similar takes of the song were recorded . 
