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Charlie Patton (April 1891 (probable) – April 28, 1934), more often spelled Charley Patton, was an American Delta blues musician and songwriter. 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.
Patton (who was well educated by the standards of his time) spelled his name Charlie, but many sources, including record labels and his gravestone, use the spelling Charley.
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 people or Cherokee. It is generally agreed that Patton was of Black, White, and Native heritage. Some believe he had a Cherokee grandmother; however, it is also widely asserted by historians that he was between one-quarter and one-half Choctaw. In 1897, his family moved north to the Dockery Plantation, a cotton farm and sawmill near Ruleville, Mississippi. 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. Patton performed at Dockery and nearby plantations and began an association with Willie Brown. Tommy Johnson, Fiddlin' Joe Martin, Robert Johnson, and Chester Burnett (who later became famous in Chicago as Howlin' Wolf) also lived and performed in the area. Patton served as a mentor to these younger performers.
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". 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 his guitar down on his knees, behind his head, or behind his back.
Patton was about 5 feet 5 inches tall (1.65m), 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). 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. W. R. Calaway from Vocalion Records bailed them 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).Tony Russell (1997). 185868255X, Carlton Books Limited. 185868255X They later returned to Holly Ridge and Lee was with Patton in his final days.
Patton died on the Heathman-Dedham plantation, near Indianola on April 28, 1934. He is buried in Holly Ridge (both towns are in Sunflower County). His death certificate says that he died of a mitral valve disorder. The death certificate does not mention Bertha Lee; the only informant listed is one Willie Calvin. Patton's death was not reported in the newspapers. A memorial headstone was erected on his 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 Mount Zion Memorial Fund in July 1990. The spelling of Patton's name was dictated by Jim O'Neal, who composed the epitaph.
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. 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. The film featured unseen film footage of Patton's contemporaries and radically improved restorations of his 1920s and 1930s recordings. 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, Mississippi in the 1920s and was responsible for virtually all the recordings of early Delta blues, he clearly linked the music to its surroundings." Patton's story was profiled in the accompanying book, . (1970). 9781501135606 ISBN 9781501135606
In May, 2021, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame posthumously inducted Patton into the 2021 class as an Early Influence.
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≠ Vocals and guitar by Patton with Henry "Son" Sims on fiddle. (Only one copy of Paramount 13040 is now thought to exist and that is in a very poor condition).
† Willie Brown on accompanying guitar
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‡ Vocal duet with Bertha Lee
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