Week 17
Charlie (Charley) Patton, Founder of the Delta Blues
(Yazoo 2010)

Along with Louis Armstrong, Elvis Presley, and a few others who created not just styles but dynasties, [Charlie Patton] is among the most important musicians twentieth century America has produced
-- Robert Palmer, Deep Blues

Characterized in the general imagination by the haunted bluesman who accompanies himself on acoustic slide guitar, what is commonly referred to as the "delta blues" began emerging from within the string band and other song traditions of the Mississippi delta in the early period of the twentieth century.

By the time Charlie (Charley) Patton was first recorded in 1929, then, some form of the music had reportedly been floating through the region's fields, juke joints, and house parties for approximately two decades, and was presumably being played by many regional performers. Patton, however, was the area's star, renowned as much for his booming voice and rhythmic drive as for his consummate and fiery entertaining style, which incorporated such stage moves as spinning and throwing his guitar, and playing it behind his head and between his legs. This status alone was probably enough to guarantee his future reputation and influence upon other regional performers and architects of the blues, including Tommy Johnson, Son House, Bukka White, and a young Howlin' Wolf.

However, Patton was also the first figure from the region to be substantially recorded in the archetypical delta blues style. While this didn't necessarily make him the founder of the delta blues (like most country entertainers of the time, he also performed in other styles), it did mark the first emergence of a distinct performer from what had before been an anonymous folk tradition of the Delta. Patton blended a phenomenally intricate guitar style with propulsive and often complex layers of rhythm, topped with a rough, powerful voice that cuts through the surface noise so common to recordings of the time.

It should be noted that surface noise is unavoidable with Patton's recordings, due in large part to the lack of available master recordings of his work, and the resulting necessity to compile recordings such as this from original 78 rpm records. However, (as with its companion CD King of the Delta Blues, Yazoo 2001, available separately), each track on this release has been digitally remastered, making even clearer the unassailable power and magnitude of one of the most vital performers in American music.

Listen: Charlie Patton —"High Water Everywhere (Part One)"
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