Charley Patton

Charley Patton (died April 28, 1934), also known as Charlie Patton, was an American Delta blues musician. Considered by many to be the "Father of the Delta Blues", he created an enduring body of American music and inspired most Delta blues musicians. The musicologist Robert Palmer considered him one of the most important American musicians of the twentieth century.

For the Royal Marine commando, see Charlie Paton.

Charley Patton
Also known asThe Masked Marvel
Elder J. J. Hadley
BornApril 1891 (probable)
Hinds County, Mississippi, U.S.
DiedApril 28, 1934
Sunflower County, Mississippi
Genres
Instruments
Years active1916–1934
Labels

Patton (who was well educated by the standards of his time) spelled his name Charlie,[1] but many sources, including record labels and his gravestone, use the spelling Charley.[2]

Biography

Patton was born in Hinds County, Mississippi, near the town of Edwards, and lived most of his life in Sunflower County, in the Mississippi Delta. Most sources say he was born in April 1891, but the years 1881, 1885 and 1887 have also been suggested.[3] Patton's parentage and race also are uncertain. His parents were Bill and Annie Patton, but locally he was regarded as having been fathered by former slave Henderson Chatmon, several of whose children became popular Delta musicians, as solo performers and as members of groups such as the Mississippi Sheiks.[4] Biographer John Fahey described Patton as having "light skin and Caucasian features."[5]

Patton was considered African-American, but because of his light complexion there has been much speculation about his ancestry over the years. One theory endorsed by blues musician Howlin' Wolf was that Patton was Mexican or Cherokee. It is now generally agreed that Patton was of mixed heritage, with white, black, and Native ancestors. Some believe he had a Cherokee grandmother;[6] however, it is also widely asserted by historians that he was between one-quarter and one-half Choctaw.[7] In "Down the Dirt Road Blues", Patton sang of having gone to "the Nation" and "the Territo'", referring to the Cherokee Nation's portion of the Indian Territory (which became part of the state of Oklahoma in 1907), where a number of Black Indians tried unsuccessfully to claim a place on the tribal rolls and thereby obtain land.

In 1897, his family moved 100 miles (160 km) north to the 10,000-acre (40 km2) Dockery Plantation, a cotton farm and sawmill near Ruleville, Mississippi.[8] There, Patton developed his musical style, influenced by Henry Sloan, who had a new, unusual style of playing music, which is now considered an early form of the blues.[9] Patton performed at Dockery and nearby plantations and began an association with Willie Brown.[10] Tommy Johnson, Fiddlin' Joe Martin, Robert Johnson, and Chester Burnett (who went on to gain fame in Chicago as Howlin' Wolf) also lived and performed in the area, and Patton served as a mentor to these younger performers.[11] Robert Palmer described Patton as a "jack-of all-trades bluesman", who played "deep blues, white hillbilly songs, nineteenth-century ballads, and other varieties of black and white country dance music with equal facility".[12] He was popular across the southern United States and performed annually in Chicago; in 1934, he performed in New York City. Unlike most blues musicians of his time, who were often itinerant performers, Patton played scheduled engagements at plantations and taverns. He gained popularity for his showmanship, sometimes playing with the guitar down on his knees, behind his head, or behind his back. Patton was a small man, about 5 feet 5 inches tall,[13] but his gravelly voice was reputed to have been loud enough to carry 500 yards without amplification; a singing style which particularly influenced Howlin' Wolf (even though Jimmie Rodgers, the "singing brakeman", has to be cited there primarily).[14]

Patton settled in Holly Ridge, Mississippi, with his common-law wife and recording partner, Bertha Lee, in 1933. His relationship with Bertha Lee was a turbulent one. In early 1934, both of them were incarcerated in a Belzoni, Mississippi jailhouse after a particularly harsh fight.[15] W. R. Calaway from Vocalion Records bailed the pair out of jail, and escorted them to New York City, for what would be Patton's final recording sessions (on January 30 and February 1).[16] They later returned to Holly Ridge and Lee saw Patton out in his final days.[16]

He died on the Heathman-Dedham plantation, near Indianola, on April 28, 1934, and is buried in Holly Ridge (both towns are located in Sunflower County). His death certificate states that he died of a mitral valve disorder.[17] The death certificate does not mention Bertha Lee; the only informant listed is one Willie Calvin.[18] Patton's death was not reported in the newspapers.[19]

A memorial headstone was erected on Patton's grave (the location of which was identified by the cemetery caretaker, C. Howard, who claimed to have been present at the burial), paid for by musician John Fogerty through the Mt. Zion Memorial Fund in July 1990. The spelling of Patton's name was dictated by Jim O'Neal, who also composed the epitaph.

Recognitions

Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton, a boxed set collecting Patton's recorded works, was released in 2001. It also features recordings by many of his friends and associates. The set won three Grammy Awards in 2003, for Best Historical Album, Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package, and Best Album Notes.[20] Another collection of Patton recordings, The Definitive Charley Patton, was released by Catfish Records in 2001.[21]

Patton's song "Pony Blues" (1929) was included by the National Recording Preservation Board in the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2006.[22] The board annually selects recordings that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

In 2017, Patton’s story was told in the award-winning documentary series American Epic.[23] The film featured unseen film footage of Patton’s contemporaries[24][25] and radically improved restorations of his 1920s and 1930s recordings.[26][27] Director Bernard MacMahon observed that "we had a strong feeling that the music of Patton and his peers reflected the local geography, and I was struck by the extent to which that belief was already shared by people who were living in the Delta back then, when it was a center of musical innovation. Listening to interviews with H. C. Speir, who owned a furniture store in Jackson in the 1920s and was responsible for virtually all the recordings of early Delta blues, he clearly linked the music to its surroundings."[28] Patton's story was profiled in the accompanying book, American Epic: The First Time America Heard Itself.[29]

Historical marker

The Mississippi Blues Trail placed its first historical marker on Patton's grave in Holly Ridge, Mississippi, in recognition of his legendary status as a bluesman and his importance in the development of the blues in Mississippi.[30] It placed another historic marker at the site where the Peavine Railroad intersects Highway 446 in Boyle, Mississippi, designating it as a second site related to Patton on the Mississippi Blues Trail. The marker commemorates the lyrics of Patton's "Peavine Blues", which refer to the branch of the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad which ran south from Dockery Plantation to Boyle. The marker notes that riding on the railroad was a common theme of blues songs and was seen as a metaphor for travel and escape.[31]

Tributes
  • Canned Heat (with Alan "Blind Owl" Wilson) covered Patton's songs "Pony Blues", "Shake It and Break It" and "Yellow Bee", and the group's 1969 single "Poor Moon" is a Wilson-arrangement of Patton's 1929 recording "Jesus Is a Dying Bedmaker".
  • Bob Dylan dedicated "High Water (For Charley Patton)", on his 2001 album "Love and Theft", to Patton.
  • The Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band, American country blues recording and touring artists, produced a tribute recording, Peyton on Patton, released on July 19, 2011. The album entered the Billboard blues album chart at number 7.
  • French singer-songwriter Francis Cabrel refers to Patton in the song "Cent Ans de Plus" on his 1999 album Hors-Saison.
  • The indie rock band Gomez recorded "Charley Patton Songs" for their 2006 album How We Operate.
  • Robert Crumb narrated Patton's life in a comic book.[32]
  • The 1980s New York punk-blues band Hi Sheriffs of Blue[33] (which included the visual artists Mark Dagley, George Condo and Elliott Sharp) was named after the Patton song "High Sheriff Blues".
  • Alvin Youngblood Hart covered Patton's songs "Pony Blues" and "Tom Rushen Blues" on the albums Big Mama's Door and Down in the Alley, respectively.
  • Corey Harris covered "Pony Blues" on his debut album, Between Midnight and Day.
  • Paul Geremia covered "Pony Blues" and "Shake It and Break It" on Love, Murder & Mosquitos and Self Portrait in Blues, respectively.
  • Paul Rishell covered Patton's songs "Some of These Days" and "Down the Dirt Road Blues" on Swear to Tell the Truth and Talking Guitar, respectively.
  • Paul Rishell and Annie Raines covered Patton's songs "Some of These Days" and "I'm Going Home" on their album Goin' Home.
  • Rory Block covered Patton's song "Elder Green Is Gone" on her 1983 album Blue Horizon.
  • Andrew Bird, in his song "Capsized", sings, "Now he's a dyin' bed maker. He's a dyin' bed maker Jesus gonna make my..." . He stated that he was struck by the lines in "Jesus Is a Dying Bed-Maker" by Patton.
  • Taj Mahal covered Patton’s song “High Water Everywhere” in the 2017 award-winning documentary film The American Epic Sessions.[34] He recorded the song direct-to-disc on the recording first electrical sound recording system from the 1920s.[35]

Discography

Paramount recordings
Recording DateRecording LocationMatrixSongParamount Issue #Release Date
June 14, 1929Richmond, IndianaG15216"Pony Blues"12792-A1929
June 14, 1929Richmond, IndianaG15211"Mississippi Boweavil Blues"12805-B1929
June 14, 1929Richmond, IndianaG15214"Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues"12805-A1929
June 14, 1929Richmond, IndianaG15215"Down the Dirt the Road Blues"12854-A1929
June 14, 1929Richmond, IndianaG15217"Banty Rooster Blues"12792-B1929
June 14, 1929Richmond, IndianaG15221"Pea Vine Blues"12877-A1929
June 14, 1929Richmond, IndianaG15220"It Won't Be Long"12854-B1929
June 14, 1929Richmond, IndianaG15222"Tom Rushen Blues"12877-B1929
June 14, 1929Richmond, IndianaG15223"A Spoonful Blues"12869-B1929
June 14, 1929Richmond, IndianaG15224"Shake It and Break It (But Don't Let It Fall Mama)"12869-A1929
June 14, 1929Richmond, IndianaG15225"Prayer of Death, Part 1"12799-A1929
June 14, 1929Richmond, IndianaG15225A"Prayer of Death, Part 2"12799-B1929
June 14, 1929Richmond, IndianaG15226"Lord, I'm Discouraged"12883-A1929
June 14, 1929Richmond, IndianaG15227"I'm Going Home"12883-B1929
November 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0038=1"Elder Green Blues" ≠12972-A1929
November 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0041"Mean Black Cat Blues"12943-A1929
November 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0050"Heart Like Railroad Steel"12953-B1929
November 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0047"Hammer Blues"12998-A1929
November 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0051"Some Happy Day"13031-A1930
November 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0049"When Your Way Gets Dark"12998-B1929
November 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0040"Devil Sent the Rain" ≠13040-B1929
November 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0052"You're Gonna Need Somebody When You Die"13031-B1930
November 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0039"Circle Round the Moon" ≠13040-A1930
November 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0048"Magnolia Blues"12943-B1929
November 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0043"Some Of These Days, I'll Be Gone"13110-B1930
December 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0077"Mean Black Moan" ≠12953-A1929
December 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0044=3"Green River Blues"12972-A1929
December 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0061"Jesus Is a Dying Bed Maker" ≠12986-A1929
December 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0037=1"Going Move to Alabama" ≠13014-B1930
December 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0059"High Water Everywhere, Part 1"12909-A1929
December 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0060"High Water Everywhere, Part 2"12909-B1929
December 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0062=2"I Shall Not Be Moved"12986-B1929
December 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0064=1"Runnin' Wild Blues" ≠12924-B1929
December 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0057"Jim Lee Blues, Part 1"13080-A1930
December 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0058"Jim Lee Blues, Part 2"13133-B1930
December 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0042=1"Frankie and Albert"13110-A1930
December 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0067"Joe Kirby" ≠13133-A1930
May 28, 1930Grafton, WisconsinL0432=1"Moon Going Down" †13014-A1930
May 28, 1930Grafton, WisconsinL0433"Bird Nest Bound" †13070-A1930
May 28, 1930Grafton, WisconsinL0431"Some Summer Day" †13080-B1930
May 28, 1930Grafton, WisconsinL0429"Dry Well Blues" †13070-B1930

≠ Vocals and guitar by Patton, with Henry "Son" Sims on fiddle.

† Willie Brown on accompanying guitar

1929; Henry "Son" Sims (vocals), Patton accompanying guitar
Recording DateRecording LocationMatrixSongParamount Issue #Release Date
November 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0046"Come Back Corrinna"12912-A1929
November 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0045"Farrell Blues"12912-B1929
December 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0066"Be True, Be True Blues"12940-A1929
December 1929Grafton, WisconsinL0065"Tell Me Man Blues"12940-B1929

Vocalion recordings
Recording DateRecording LocationMatrixSongVocalion Issue #Release Date
January 30, 1934New York City14723=1"Jersey Bull Blues"02782-A1934
January 30, 1934New York City14725=2"High Sheriff Blues"02680-A1934
January 30, 1934New York City14727=1"Stone Pony Blues"02680-B1934
January 31, 1934New York City14739=1"34 Blues"02651-B1934
January 31, 1934New York City14746"Love My Stuff"02782-B1934
January 31, 1934New York City14747"Revenue Man Blues"02931-A1934
February 1, 1934New York City14749"Oh Death" ‡02904-A1934
February 1, 1934New York City14749"Troubled 'Bout My Mother" ‡02904-B1934
February 1, 1934New York City14757"Poor Me"02651-A1934
February 1, 1934New York City14758"Hang It On the Wall"02931-B1934

‡ Vocal duet with Bertha Lee

1934; Bertha Lee (vocals), Patton accompanying guitar
Recording DateRecording LocationMatrixSongVocalion Issue #Release Date
January 31, 1934New York City14735=1"Yellow Bee"02650-A1934
January 31, 1934New York City14736=1"Mind Reader Blues"02650-B1934

Citations
  1. "• Charley Patton April 28, 1891 – April 28, 1934..." Iloveancestry.net. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
  2. "Charley Patton (1891–1934)". Findagrave.com. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  3. Charley Patton Birthplace, Mississippi Blues Foundation.
  4. Fahey 1970, p. 18.
  5. Fahey 1970, p. 26.
  6. "New York Guitar Festival - Charley Patton Tribute". July 14, 2007. Archived from the original on July 14, 2007. Retrieved February 5, 2019.
  7. Farber, Jim (July 19, 2017). "'Buried history': unearthing the influence of Native Americans on rock'n'roll". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved November 19, 2017.
  8. Palmer 1981, p. 50.
  9. Palmer 1981, pp. 51–52.
  10. Palmer 1981, p. 58.
  11. Palmer 1981, pp. 59, 61.
  12. Palmer 1981, p. 133.
  13. Wardlow 1998, p. 30.
  14. David Dicaire (1999). Blues Singers. Jefferson NC: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-0606-7.
  15. Palmer 1981, p. 86-7.
  16. Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books Limited. p. 43. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
  17. Wardlow 1998, p. 98.
  18. Palmer 1981, p. 88.
  19. Palmer 1981, p. 89.
  20. Du Noyer, Paul (2003). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music. Fulham, London: Flame Tree Publishing. p. 159. ISBN 1-904041-96-5.
  21. "The Definitive Charley Patton: Releases". AllMusic. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  22. "The National Recording Registry 2006: National Recording Preservation Board (Library of Congress)". Loc.gov. May 13, 2011. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  23. "BBC - Arena: American Epic - Media Centre". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  24. "Mule Calls and Outlaws: A Conversation With 'American Epic' Director Bernard MacMahon". Men's Journal. May 23, 2017. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  25. "'American Epic' Recreates Music History With Elton John, Beck & More". Udiscovermusic.com. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  26. "American Epic". Stereophile.com. June 12, 2017. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  27. Lewis, Randy. "'American Epic' explores how a business crisis ignited a musical revolution". Latimes.com. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  28. Wald et al 2017, p. 120.
  29. MacMahon, Bernard; McGourty, Allison; Wald, Elijah (1970). American epic : when music gave America her voice (First Touchstone hardcover ed.). New York. ISBN 9781501135606. OCLC 935784467.
  30. "Haley Barbour Unveils First Marker of Mississippi Blues Trail". Jazz News. Retrieved February 9, 2007.
  31. "Mississippi Blues Trail Markers to Be Unveiled in Bolivar County" (PDF). Mississippi Development Authority. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 7, 2007. Retrieved May 29, 2008.
  32. "Charlie Patton by R.Crumb". Celticguitarmusic.com. Archived from the original on June 24, 2014. Retrieved 2014-07-11.
  33. "Hi Sheriffs of Blue". Hi Sheriffs of Blue. Archived from the original on March 28, 2012. Retrieved December 30, 2011.
  34. "Taj Mahal - High Water Everywhere, The Sessions, American Epic, Arena - BBC Four". BBC. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  35. "The Performers in 'The American Epic Sessions'". WTTW Chicago Public Media - Television and Interactive. June 6, 2017. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
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References

Relevant literature
  • Sacré, Robert, ed. Charley Patton: Voice of the Mississippi Delta. 2018. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi
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