Charley Patton Founder Of The Delta Blues

"Like so many of his classic blues contemporaries, the
life of Charley Patton is cloaked in mystery. Yet even
among the legendary bluesmen he frequently
associated with, he stands among them, particularly
revered. (Often referred to by musicologists as one of
the most important American musicians of the 20th
century.) A veritable star across the Delta, Patton was
not just one of the first recorded performers of blues
music, but also one of the first successful ones, packing
dancehalls, juke joints, and various other venues. He
would even act as a mentor to the likes of other
legends, such as Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and
Howlin' Wolf. Famed for his gravelly vocals, his
versatility, and for his sense of showmanship, Patton
recorded and performed from the late 1910's until 1934,
frequently collaborating with his common-law wife,
singer Bertha Lee, his career and life being cut short by
a mitral valve disorder.
Not long after Patton's death, the label he primarily
recorded with, Paramount, went out of business. The
metal masters which housed those same recordings
were sold off as scrap, and could not be salvaged,
leaving only weathered 78 recordings as evidence of
Patton's legacy. As the Delta Blues revival of the 1960s
got underway, renewed interest in Patton and his
forebears culminated in the release of Founder Of The
Delta Blues, a double-record set which compiled the
best of Patton's recordings with Paramount and
Vocalion Records across 24 tracks. A definitive
collection, an essential piece of music history, and a
window into the earliest days of the classic
blues sound."