Charley (or Charlie) Patton is widely known as the one of the originators -- or maybe the originator -- of the Delta blues style, and he's known as the "father of Delta blues."
His music inspired many of the blues artists that today we think of the first generation of Delta bluesmen -- but Patton almost single-handedly created much of that music. He played more than blues, and his influence was such that music and blues historians such as Robert Palmer believe him to be one of the most important American musicians of the twentieth century -- period.
Why do we care? Well, first we care because we are all blues lovers, and should be aware of the history of the music we love. Second, it's just a little past Patton's May 1 birthday (a belated card is on its way), and third, there's a new collection of Patton's works available that sounds like it should be like mother's milk for blues fans in general, and Delta fans in particular.
The collection is a three-CD, DVD boxed-set retrospective of Patton's music and the music that followed in its footsteps -- "The Definitive Charley Patton - 75 Year Anniversary Edition" (Proper Records, 2009). I haven't heard it yet, but this review that I found makes it sound like something I'll track down soon, and might belong in every blues fan's library. Here's an informative review of the package on World Music Central.
The interesting thing about this set is that it's not just the classic Patton recordings, but recordings of music that followed, to show how the blues evolved from Patton's work.
It sounds like a great boxed set, especially if you don't have any Patton discs in your collection. Here's a YouTube recording of one of Patton's songs, "Pony Blues":
Posted
Jul 01 2009, 01:00 AM
by
Jim White