When Todd Park Mohr was first approached about doing a blues tour commemorating the 100th anniversary of Robert Johnson’s birth, he was initially hesitant.

Mohr, the guitarist / singer / songwriter for Big Head Todd & the Monsters, jokes that he actually “had to be dragged kicking and screaming” to the project. “I love the blues, and was very inspired by Chicago blues, but at this point, the blues is hard to bring something new to, if you’re a rock band. I wasn’t sure what we would have to offer,” he says.

But the more time that Mohr spent reacquainting himself with the details of those seminal Delta-blues records by Johnson — as well as the recordings of Johnson’s Delta brethren, like Son House and Tampa Red — the more he could feel himself being pulled into the mystery and power of this quintessentially American music.

So, Mohr and his band signed on. And before long, everyone involved decided they should record an album as well. That disc, “100 Years of Robert Johnson,” will be released March 1 and features some high-profile blues-scene guest stars — B.B. King; the 85-year-old singer-guitarist David “Honeyboy” Edwards (who knew and played with Johnson); blues-harp master Charlie Musselwhite; and guitarist Hubert Sumlin, who played such seductive, swampy licks on Howlin’ Wolf’s classic albums.

And, to represent the younger generation of blues artists, they also brought in singer Ruthie Foster, drummer / guitarist Cedric Burnside (grandson of the eccentric classic-bluesman bluesman R.L. Burnside) and guitarist Lightnin’ Malcolm.

The tour, which is dubbed “Blues at the Crossroads: The Robert Johnson Centennial Concerts,” will include the members of Big Head Todd & the Monsters, plus Sumlin, Edwards, Burnside and Malcolm — and it comes to Hill Auditorium on Thursday for a show sponsored by the University Music Society. And this ad-hoc traveling band is calling itself the Big Head Blues Club. “We knew we had to bring those folks in to add authenticity to the project,” says Mohr. “We knew we had to bring in some artists who were connected to classic Delta blues, so Honeyboy was at the top of the list. Plus, B.B. is also from the Delta.

“Hubert was born in Mississippi as well, and he’s one of my all-time heroes. His playing is very unique — he doesn’t use a pick, and he uses a lot of vibrato, and he’s very quick — he’s really been idolized by a lot of rock guitarists, from Hendrix to Keith Richards to…..well, it’s a long list. A lot of important guitarists look up to him.”

The album was produced by Grammy-winning blues producer Chris Goldsmith, “who really understand the music, and had some great ideas,” says Mohr. “And he’s especially good when it comes to working with the older blues artists, and we thought that would be important, since Honeyboy and Hubert were involved.”

When working out the arrangements of Johnson songs for the album, the challenge, says Mohr, was to avoid copying the countless cover versions that have been recorded over the decades. “In a lot of those covers, you don’t really the depth of emotion that’s in Robert’s lyrics, and in his voice,” says Mohr by phone from San Francisco, where the band was beginning rehearsals.

“But I think Chris and the band and the older blues players and singers were able to bring those qualities to the songs. Chris had great ideas about how to interpret the songs, and all the musicians were just so great that the unique arrangements came pretty naturally.”

The album includes some of Johnson’s most popular songs, but also some of the lesser-known ones. “Come On In My Kitchen” and “Last Fair Deal Gone Done” showcase Musselwhite’s blues-harp virtuosity. “If I had Possession Over Judgement Day” spotlights Edwards, while “Cross Road Blues” is brought uptown by King’s eloquent, identifiable guitar style. On “When You Got a Good Friend,” Sumlin’s signature licks and Foster’s vocals shine.

For the live performance, “we’re going to have a lot of people coming on and off the stage, throughout the show,” says Mohr. “There will be some solo performances, some duets, some trios, and some full-band performances. And Hubert and Honeyboy will play a few songs each. We’ll mostly play the songs that are on the album, as well some other Robert songs, and maybe a couple from outside of Robert’s catalog.

“As far as Hubert is concerned, he can play whatever he wants — if he wants to play ‘Sittin' On Top of the World’ or ‘Killing Floor,’ that’s fine with me,” Mohr says with a laugh.

While learning and recording Johnson’s songs, Mohr also rediscovered the complexity of Johnson’s guitar playing: “When you learn and play these songs, you realize how involved the guitar parts really were. The compositions have a lot of skipped beats and bars, and other twists that make his playing really unique.

“To hear one instrument played so fully is really extraordinary — his playing was just impeccable, and this whole experience has really had an impact on how I play the guitar on our own songs.”

In the end, the whole experience of diving into Johnson’s music and spending so much time with it had a profound impact on Mohr. “My life has changed a lot due to becoming immersed in his music, and in the music of Son House, and Tampa Red. When you think of these guys, and the music they made — they really were the root of the tree of all American music.

“There’s a spirit there that you can still feel — there’s a spirit there of man against the world, and the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll really runs through all of it - you listen to it, and you can feel how and why rock ‘n’ roll emerged from this music.” Kevin Ransom, a free-lance writer who covers music for AnnArbor.com, first interviewed Todd Park Mohr for Guitar Player magazine in 1994. He can be reached at KevinRansom10@aol.com.