Since these early days of blues documentaries, blues aficionados and scholars have created a fairly substantial body of documentary-style films that continues to grow.  The legendary nature of Robert Johnson has become the subject of several documentaries, including The Search for Robert Johnson (1992), Can't You Hear the Wind Howl? (1998), and the musical tribute Hellhounds on My Trail (1999).  At least two screenplays about Johnson have never made the transition from paper to the big screen: Ed Leimbacher's Hellhound on My Trail (1970) and Alan Greenberg's screenplay, eventually published as the book Love in Vain:  The Life and Legend of Robert Johnson (1983).

Hoping to repeat for the blues what Ken Burns accomplished for jazz, Martin Scorsese brought together film makers Wim Wenders, Clint Eastwood, Charles Burnett, Richard Pearce, Mike Figgis, and Marc Levin to create a seven-part series for PBS called The Blues (2003).  Coinciding with the "Year of the Blues," the series received mixed reviews and reached a smaller audience than had Burn's Jazz.