Information About Charley Patton (Page 1)
{"Image DocumentName": "Information About Charley Patton (Page 1)", "Image ImageDescription": "Patton s gruff vocals and maniacal guitar style set the pace for Mississippi Delta blues, inspiring a generation of bluesmen that included Son House, Bukka White, and Robert Johnson. Patton died prematurely of heart failure, leaving behind fewer than 70 recorded sides. b. 1 May 1891, Bolton, Mississippi, USA, d. 28 April 1934, Indianola, Mississippi, USA. Charley Patton was small, but in all other ways larger than life; his death from a chronic heart condition at the age of 43 brought to an end his relentless pursuit of the good things then available to a black man in Mississippi - liquor, women, food (courtesy of women), music, and the avoidance of farm work, which carried with it another desideratum, freedom of movement. By 1910, Patton had a repertoire of his own compositions, including Pony Blues , Banty Rooster Blues , Down The Dirt Road , and his version of Mississippi Bo Weavil Blues , all of which he recorded at his first session in He also acquired a number of spirituals, although the degree of his religious conviction is uncertain. By the time he recorded, Charley Patton was the foremost blues singer in Mississippi, popular with whites and blacks, and able to make a living from his music. He was enormously influential on local musicians, including his regular partner Willie Brown, in addition to Tommy Johnson and Son House. Bukka White, Big Joe Williams and Howlin Wolf were among others whose music was profoundly affected by Patton. Patton s own sound is characteristic from the first: a hoarse, hollering vocal delivery, at times incomprehensible even to those who heard him in person, interrupted by spoken asides, and accompanied by driving guitar played with an unrivalled mastery of rhythm. Patton had a number of tunes and themes that he liked to rework, and he recorded some songs more than once, but never descended to stale repetition. His phrasing and accenting were uniquely inventive, voice and guitar complementing one another, rather than the guitar simply imitating the rhythm of the vocal line. He was able to hold a sung note to an impressive length, and part of the excitement of his music derives from the way a sung line can thus overlap the guitar phrase introducing the next verse. \u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026\u2026. continued next page. Return to quiz. Next Page.", "Image XResolution": "37", "Image YResolution": "37", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Centimeter", "Image Software": "SlidePlayer", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered"}