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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZPATTON, Charley(b 1887, Edwards MS; d 28 April '34, Indianola) Blues singer, guitarist, composer. He was a half-brother to the Chatmon family of Delta musicians, whose best-known members were singers/multi-instrumentalists Sam (b 10 Jan. 1897, Bolton MS) and Armentier 'Bo' (b 21 March 1893, Bolton; d 21 Sep. '64, Memphis TN; aka Bo Carter), both of whom made records and sometimes spelled their name Chatman. Patton was one of the most important, influential and inventive of Delta bluesmen, aka 'The Masked Marvel', 'Charley Peters'; he altered accents and lengths of verses, recorded blues ballads, ragtime songs and religious songs as well as pure blues, no doubt considering himself an entertainer rather than a blues singer; Son House disapproved of his 'clowning'. He was popular with white people at a time when segregation was not as hard as it later became in the area. He worked with Tommy Johnson and others; recorded 42 sides for Paramount '29--30, some with Henry Sims on violin (and second voice on one side), four with Willie Brown on second guitar; and 26 sides for Vocalion '34, of which only ten were issued at the time; several of the Vocalion sides were as 'Patton and Lee' with vocalist Bertha Lee; he also accompanied Sims and Lee on a few sides of their own. On some issues of religious sides he was 'Elder J. J. Hadley' or 'Rev. J. M. Gates'. His best-known composition was 'Pony Blues'; he also recorded 'Frankie And Albert' and 'Going To Move To Alabama' (variants of 'Frankie And Johnny' and 'Kansas City Blues'), 'Some Of These Days I'll Be Gone' (melody and chords infl. by white country music), much else: his guitar work is fascinating and his work as a whole an excellent example of interplay between voice and guitar that marks a master in the genre. There are compilations on Yazoo CDs; two- CD The Voice Of the Delta: The Complete Recordings Of Charley Patton on Black Swan has 39 tracks. John Fahey published Charley Patton '70 with musical analysis and biographical research. |