This is quite simply one of the greatest blues recordings of all time. The rhythmic tension generated by the two guitars (especially the string-snapping), the gradual acceleration, and Patton's remarkably intense singing is all but overwhelming.
@chickenchopsocky He was a Black man who was treated no different than other Black men under Jim Crow law. Mixed race did not matter. Funny how in life he and others suffered these racial indignities now 70, 80 years later people are quick to point out their "mixed" background.
As one of the first he raises questions. Where did this come from? He was 30ish at this time, had to have been doing it for some time. Amazing. To bad men like Wardlow couldn't have dug up more info when they did, it's lost forever now.
He is fantastic. I love his voice and his playing, but really love the way he picks up the speed. I'm hanging on and didn't realize it. He really picks up the speed towards the end which adds to the emotion and the experience. Master showman along with master bluesman! Thanks.
if you are poor it doesnt matter what color your skin is,poor is poor and poor people get the pointed end of the stick right in the eye,this music came from all the people that lived in the hills and secluded dirt farms of the american south....on race,escaped slaves in chicago would move off the block if an irish family moved in,it wasnt like today,cant judge it like its today,its the past...dont live in the past,live now
why do you guys need to bicker about this shit while listening to great music. go away from here. some of us might want to try and enjoy this music. thank you children.
Music can transcend, but it can also celebrate. We have to acknowledge the racial aspect of the music too. It's part of an oral history, and it was born out of the suffering and discrimination that were without question part of the scenery before the civil rights demonstrations. Even after that, people had to sometimes keep their heads down just because they were black, or not say what they meant when a white person might hear it. Nobody has to like it, but at least admit it.
@Facehoal You forgot to mention Coles show was canceled because nobody wanted to sponsor a black mans show. Jim Crow was not nearly as bad?!! You aren't black and your family did not suffer the indignities of apartheid so you are speaking of something you have no clue about. Try and convince those who lived through sixtiies Jim Crow that it wasn't so bad. .However humble its still their HOME! Light skin or dark skin, under Jim Crow and the one drop rule you were "fully African American".
@Facehoal People like Sammy Davis, Jr., Nat King Cole, Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong were given a longer leash than the average black person, but they still had far less freedom than their white popular showbiz peers. "Popular" black people were still not above Jim Crow.
@Facehoal Again popularity did not give them a pass from Jim Crow. As popular as Nat King Cole was he was still beaten and attacked by a white mob, he was not welcomed by his neighbors in an upscale LA neighborhood. The Nat King Cole show was canceled because it could not secure national sponsorship. Look up people like Adam Clayton Powell, Walter White, Maggie Walker, Mordecai Johnson, Berry Gordy Sr., Alonso Herndon, Etta James, some were probably whiter than "white" people.
@Facehoal Its a black thang you wouldn't understand. I am not being sarcastic with that statement, it is the truth. You are not black and you are not a black person over 50 from the south. I can't make it any simpler. Patton and hundreds of thousands of other fair skinned people lived and identified themselves as blacks and were therefore punished for that under a brutal Jim Crow system. I am not labeling them as black, that is how they identified themselves.
@Facehoal black entertainers performed at exclusive establishments but could not stay at the hotels, eat in the restaurants or drink at the bar with their white audiences at most of these establishments. Do you know the history of legendary venues like the Cotton Club in NY? Whites were entertained by African captives on slave ships coming to the Americas! Popularity of black musicians did not deter racism and Jim Crow.
@Facehoal My family hails from South Carolina and Alabama and it was just as racist as "doomsayers" say. I had (and still have) many relatives on my paternal side who weren't "fully black as a black man". Because they didn't "pass" and chose to live and marry among those who were "fully black" (whatever that means), They experienced all the horrors of USA style apartheid. Blacks performed for white audiences but had to enter thru back door or kitchen, cont.
@KhemuLuxons Um....yes...I got your point the first time. Ive seen REAL life and I still have to see it and hear it and watch black people get screwed and messed with. Still goes on. I gotcha the first time. I am well aware.
people need to get real and save their collegiate babbling for their essays and thesis and ...whatever. Those of us who know the south are well aware of racism okay? ? This means anyone who wants to rant about how much they 'know' and what theyve heard their fkn professors yak about. Try real life. Can you handle it people?? I think not......
How ignorant, those who say Patton was not black. In Jim Crow America, there was a "one drop" rule: if one drop of black blood flowed through your veins, you were black. Read a book.
Personally prefer Blind Willie, Robert Johnson and Leadbelly. But obviously Patton is still a legend who had more talent in his little finger, than i have in my whole being
The fourth annual Starr-Gennett Music Festival celebrates "Blues and BBQ" September 11, 2010 at the Whitewater Gorge Park (South 1st Street) in Richmond, IN from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Inducted into the Walk of Fame will be Alberta Hunter, Lonnie Johnson, and the Pace Jubilee Singers. Past inductee Charlie Patton will be honored.
Patton is a musicalGIANT. rythmic genius, an acoustic guitar virtuoso whose acoustic riffs make Hendrix'selectric guitar work seem brittle. Without Patton there would have been any Son House, without Son House, no Robert Johnson, and without Robert, some argue rock,nroll may never had happened. Love all the string snapping and dampening. Alot of shameless imitators out there, some good: Howling Wolf, Some bad: Tom Waits. But Patton is one of a kind. The original Delta Bluesman.
@populistherd I don't agree with your statement about Jimi Hendrix. Jimi Hendrix is the most solid guitar player of them all. He is Charlie Patton, Buddy Guy, Howlin Wolf, Robert Johnson, Blind Mellon, BB King, Albert King, Freddie King, T Bone Walker ect all blend into one.
Patton was America's Musical Shakespeare, as important as Gershwin or Cohan. He was the inspiration for a young Robert Johnson, the direct progenitor for Hendrix and so many to follow. When found Patton's grave was at the edge of a plantation garbage dump. See Mt. Zion Memorial Fund on Wikipedia. Thanks so much for posting this and for all who serve to preserve Patton's memory and legacy to our country's true cultural wealth.
Patton was America's Musical Shakespeare, as important as Gershwin or Cohan. He was the inspiration for a young Robert Johnson, the direct progenitor for Hendrix and so many to follow. When found Patton's grave was at the edge of a plantation garbage dump. See Mt. Zion Memorial Fund on Wikipedia. Thanks so much for posting this and for all who serve to preserve Patton's memory and legacy to our country's true cultural wealth.
you can surmise all you care too,,,about charlie,,,you can even go back further and surmise about jesus ! but when your blood drips it will be your own
See the racial comments-WHO CARES- he's an American. like half-Cheorkee Hendrix, or all Jewish Dylan, music is supposed to transcend all that-don't tell me it don't or my life has been for nothing.
@kronoscorvinus dylan is a descendant of a convert that accepted judaism, judah came out of the word judah the 4th son of jacob, the true so called jews are black and millions around the world exist,hendrix,and every other so called black/negro singer are real jews,do your research
@Gunnercv Gunnercv: "no autotune back then.....bring those days back!"- YES!! REAL music- of all styles, all of 'em- must make a comeback, and autotune abuse has gotta go!
this dude on another level, you can see the smoke and fire from that campsite, whiskey, graveyards, elements,,that stuff he did with the infamous willie brown ya'll need to hear
"The smokestack is black and the buildings shine like gold"! I love listening to the really old blues because you can hear where a lot of the future blues came from.
Its funny... Ive always wondered what ethnicity the man actually was... all pictures show him with a really dark skin tone but heavily Caucasian features...
guess it proves us that american music has transcended complexion matters since its very beginnings
oh that moon is going down baby that north stars gonna shine(twice) rossetta henry told me lord i dont want you hangin round oh well where were you now baby clarksdale mill burnt down(twice) theys a house over yonder paint all over green(twice) lord i think i heard that helena whisle blow(twice) but i aint gonna stop walkin till i get in my riders door. if you have no idea how to play charlie patton style check out gnugears video study that fingering in open g it will help if you commit :)
my bad after he says clarksdale mill burnt down he says " was way down sunflower with my face all fulla frowns" and after he says paint all over green he says "you know what they got over there spoken- lord the mightyest young women that ive ever seen :)
I read that the Chatmon connection was just a speculation or sort of wishful thinking on Charley's part. Seein' as his father wouldn't let him play blues.
avoid Best Buy whenever possible! Vinyl shops are a great place to start, as are garage sales, I've found some real treasures buying vinyl a box at a time, folks didn't even know what was in there. Good for me, not for them.
People treat the issue of race as though it's (pardon the expression) black and white. Most African Americans have a lot of European blood. If that simple fact doesn't solve the question of Charlie Patton's ancestry, I don't think anything ever will.
He was a Black man with very fair skin and straight hair. So now some say he was not "really" Black. Has anyone seen photos of Etta James, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Cab Calloway, etc.,?
Most "Black" folks are a mixture of "other things". But the reality is they lived as Black Americans and everything that came along with it during this era. There were those that "passed" , but these people didn't.
@KhemuLuxons Of course Mr. Patton was black. However, look at his hair and features.....there was a white boy in the woodpile somwhere in his moma's past.
@PoppaBlue59 Majority of Black Americans have some white ancestry. Many would be surprised to learn actor Don Cheadle's DNA results revealed 19% European ancestry.
@retroflow44 Yup charlie patton was an American of mixed heritage of African, european, and Native American. In the U.S., he is considered "black" of course.
@boxingin There might have been a bit of prejudice on the part of some blacks, nothing comparable to the virulent white racism of that era. Light skin or mixed race black people have been prominent leaders and held great influence in the black community - Walter White, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Mary Church Terrell, W.E.B. Dubois, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglas, John Hope, etc., No comparison.
@KhemuLuxons Right, I agree. Noone should have to go through that kind of Bullshit as a human being! To make matters worse Elvis Presley was crowned the "King Of Rock & Roll" all while playing Black artists songs.... Shame on America!
@KhemuLuxons I dwelled on your comment and you know what.... You're right. Mixed or not Charlie Patton lived and dealt with the racial discrimination of the time as a Black Man! He was a Black man!
@boxingin In the Southern US during the turn of the 20th Century, especially in Mississippi, there was no middle ground. According to the culture and laws there, he was born a Black man, lived in segregation as a Black man, and died as a Black man. Today you can even visit his grave in a segregated Black cemetery. So all this revisionist debate you see here is moot. You came to the correct conclusion.
@NoRosesForMe I am sure Mr. Patton knew about & acknowledge his heritage. But I also know that in the era of Jim Crow, it was reinforced to him every day that the diversity of his heritage did not matter a bit to his fellow white Mississpians. Most of them relished the in their obligation to harshly & sometimes violently enforce the laws of segregation.
@Mxyzptlk562 I'll tell you just like I'll tell Khemu......I live in the south. I despise it. I KNOW too well about racism. My grandfathers people...my moms dad....were Blackfoot & Irish - but people in this so called 'family' dont want the word 'black' to be spoken of when it comes to the family. This is a small example of the shit Ive known. OUR own people. So...you dont have to tell me about what its like down here okay? Im not ignorant. I am educated and I know all about the honkies okay?
@NoRosesForMe It was not my intention at all to make blanket statements about white people. However, I was just giving you the reality of the times that Charley Patton lived. You were either "white" or "colored" (black) in Mississippi. Just how it was.
@Mxyzptlk562 I understand. And I know you werent trying to make blanket comments. White people make blanket comments Hehe! Its just so sad how this kind of thing still goes on. I try to be good to everyone. But I have a hard time trusting white people because of all that. And Im a white woman. Makes me cry. Hurts to see it. And this is the 21st century. Terrible. But thanks & God bless you
@KhemuLuxons He was indeed part Native American and part white. I dont like the word 'bi-racial' but he was that indeed. Nobody here seems to deny him his blackness. Just discussin hos heritage. Like for example... Im Cherokee & Blackfoot but Im white. Think about that. Nobodys makin a racial thing here.
@NoRosesForMe Many comments stating he was "half Cherokee, half white, etc., It did not matter in the era that he lived in. The one drop rule reigned. His entire life was lived among other black people, little contact with others. Was just as much a victim of Jim Crow as Huddie Ledbetter, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Skip James, Son House, etc., "multi-cultural or bi-racial" heritage did not save one from the horrors of slavery and later Jim Crow.
@KhemuLuxons He was indeed part Native American and part white. I dont like the word 'bi-racial' but he was that indeed. Nobody here seems to deny him his blackness. Just discussin his heritage. Like for example... Im Cherokee & Blackfoot but Im white. Think about that. Nobodys makin a racial thing here.
oh that moon is goin down baby clarksdale suns gonna shine(twice) old heny told me lord i dont want you hangin round where were you now baby clarksdale mill burnt down(twice) i was way down sunflower with my face all full of frowns in the house over yonder painted over rain(twice) got the mightyest women lord i ever seen lord i think i heard that hailor whistle blow(twice) lord i aint gonna stop walkin till i get in my riders door well that smokestack is flyin village skylight moon
what really sucks is that charlie pattons music would only be available to the people who saw him in person nowadays cuz of that music industry i say thanks to youtube, sablues and chalie patton
The blues (not the music, the sentiment), didn't hit most of America big till Nov. of '29, when the Wall St. crash ushered in 10 years of the Great Depression (which we may be reprising 70 years later in 2009!)
The Roaring '20s turned into the Dirty '30s.
In '29, my Dad was 13, my Mom was 6.
They knew all about the "depression blues".
We're still in the early stages of learnin' about our own great 21st Century Depression, still unfolding, with lots of ugly years ahead, most likely.
This man could play his ass off! It makes me ashamed that more young black american youth my age are not aware more of his recordings and his contributions!!!!!
What do you mean by that? He was a Indeed a Black American. He was a racial blend of African, European and Native American as are MOST Black Americans. Get your facts straight. He is apart of not only American History but also Black American history. If you don't want to accept that too bad. And why NOT Black Americans? Caucasians can enjoy his music w/o conflict but we can't? He was one of us as was Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Son House, Bukka White, etc.
He was, as you say, Caucasian, African, and Native American, not "black."
I don't know why specifically "young black american youth" should be more aware of his music. Everyone should be more aware of good music. Unless you're implying that "young black american youth" are especially ignorant of good music.
I suggest you spend some time reading on his life. He really was BLACK, for all practical purposes. Looking at his picture today (granted, there's only one surviving picture, and we can't be 100% positive it is really him), you can guess that he didn't really have much African blood in him, physically. But you need to understand, that it mattered very little -- he grew up among rural black people, and he was *treated* like a black person by everybody he ever knew. ...
(I was really replying to one of the comments below, where people were arguing he wasn't black; not sure why it ended on top)
more on his "blackness":
You can be absolutely positive that he never had any reason whatsoever during his life to doubt his "blackness". You have to realize in fact, that throughout his life he didn't really have that much contacts with white folks at all! The white folks from the record industry were really the first white people who had made any human contact with him.
He had all kinds of contact with white people. He was brutually discriminated against by them throughout his whole life. Just like all the other black people in the old south.
Back then they had somethin called the 1 drop rule. If you had 1 drop of black blood you were black and therefore, well, treated like you were subhuman.
I am whiter than A.Hitler//S.Palin and I love this shit
Morthund 2 weeks ago
tel m bout it Charlie!
eslider 1 month ago
I'm tired of seeing people getting into dumb arguments, then the top comment is someone saying "good music is good music"
Yeah everyone knows that. Just stop participating in dumb arguments.
aaron22887 2 months ago
im white as a cracker and elvis is not king
shannonandsheila1 6 months ago 6
This is quite simply one of the greatest blues recordings of all time. The rhythmic tension generated by the two guitars (especially the string-snapping), the gradual acceleration, and Patton's remarkably intense singing is all but overwhelming.
ukslim2000 6 months ago
A lua se pondo no céu cantada por um velho mestre do blues, dos primórdios do blues. A great blue singer.
McClaudioMacau 6 months ago
@Facehoal you're an idiot !
00tuoyo 7 months ago
He Is the original Delta Genius. Long live his music forever. He played like a man possesed.
gregluland 8 months ago 2
This is where Howlin Wolf got Smokestack lighting from.
Urbanomad22 8 months ago 2
THIS SONG IS FUCKING SICK WHAT A VOICE!!!!
Fruscianteistheman 8 months ago 3
From the time period he was active, it's amazing what he does with the guitar.
Hellbilly1692 9 months ago
so much emotion in his voice
bona371 9 months ago
1930,28,May
first citizen records.
38Avril 9 months ago
@thoroughlyThoreau Maybe he is like Robert Johnson at the crossroads!
Gunnercv 9 months ago
He's part Cherokee, African-American, and Caucasian. \m/
chickenchopsocky 9 months ago
@chickenchopsocky He was an Irishman
jessemoynahan 8 months ago
@jessemoynahan He was mulatto.
chickenchopsocky 8 months ago
@chickenchopsocky what is a mulatto?
jessemoynahan 8 months ago
@jessemoynahan a person of mixed black and white ancestry.
chickenchopsocky 8 months ago
@chickenchopsocky He was a Black man who was treated no different than other Black men under Jim Crow law. Mixed race did not matter. Funny how in life he and others suffered these racial indignities now 70, 80 years later people are quick to point out their "mixed" background.
luvureally 7 months ago 2
@luvureally Exactly. Obama is mixed race and is still called the first black president
Underhill182 2 months ago
He looks a lot like my pastor.
panbread89 10 months ago
As one of the first he raises questions. Where did this come from? He was 30ish at this time, had to have been doing it for some time. Amazing. To bad men like Wardlow couldn't have dug up more info when they did, it's lost forever now.
reissue 10 months ago
I love Blues! and i'm Chilean! :D!
TheArtOfMusic 10 months ago
He was the first citizen of the world, this man is not bound to any race but the human one, and that's all that counts.
GaertnerJan 10 months ago
He is fantastic. I love his voice and his playing, but really love the way he picks up the speed. I'm hanging on and didn't realize it. He really picks up the speed towards the end which adds to the emotion and the experience. Master showman along with master bluesman! Thanks.
MyMoppet52 11 months ago 7
I love his rhythm playing style man its so percussive, Charlie is every bit as important as robert johnson to me maybe more.
AbsintheDream 1 year ago 2
You can use the music to transcend whatever you like. Just don't let it be based on ignorance.
Damez76 1 year ago
if you are poor it doesnt matter what color your skin is,poor is poor and poor people get the pointed end of the stick right in the eye,this music came from all the people that lived in the hills and secluded dirt farms of the american south....on race,escaped slaves in chicago would move off the block if an irish family moved in,it wasnt like today,cant judge it like its today,its the past...dont live in the past,live now
RoilNoise 1 year ago
i love the blues!!
elvisviii 1 year ago
why do you guys need to bicker about this shit while listening to great music. go away from here. some of us might want to try and enjoy this music. thank you children.
blackalabaster616 1 year ago 14
Music can transcend, but it can also celebrate. We have to acknowledge the racial aspect of the music too. It's part of an oral history, and it was born out of the suffering and discrimination that were without question part of the scenery before the civil rights demonstrations. Even after that, people had to sometimes keep their heads down just because they were black, or not say what they meant when a white person might hear it. Nobody has to like it, but at least admit it.
Sheilanagig 1 year ago
@Sheilanagig Stop being a racist.
TheBrassHole 1 year ago
in the moment I try to learn guitar picking in the style of charlie patton ...
frizzguitar 1 year ago
People please shut the fuck up and enjoy this awesome song!
jaysun34 1 year ago 2
This is a masterpiece.
cvwtzhaar 1 year ago 2
@cvwtzhaar
very much
juicystunts 1 year ago
@Facehoal You forgot to mention Coles show was canceled because nobody wanted to sponsor a black mans show. Jim Crow was not nearly as bad?!! You aren't black and your family did not suffer the indignities of apartheid so you are speaking of something you have no clue about. Try and convince those who lived through sixtiies Jim Crow that it wasn't so bad. .However humble its still their HOME! Light skin or dark skin, under Jim Crow and the one drop rule you were "fully African American".
KhemuLuxons 1 year ago
@Facehoal People like Sammy Davis, Jr., Nat King Cole, Lena Horne, Louis Armstrong were given a longer leash than the average black person, but they still had far less freedom than their white popular showbiz peers. "Popular" black people were still not above Jim Crow.
KhemuLuxons 1 year ago
@Facehoal Again popularity did not give them a pass from Jim Crow. As popular as Nat King Cole was he was still beaten and attacked by a white mob, he was not welcomed by his neighbors in an upscale LA neighborhood. The Nat King Cole show was canceled because it could not secure national sponsorship. Look up people like Adam Clayton Powell, Walter White, Maggie Walker, Mordecai Johnson, Berry Gordy Sr., Alonso Herndon, Etta James, some were probably whiter than "white" people.
KhemuLuxons 1 year ago
@Facehoal Its a black thang you wouldn't understand. I am not being sarcastic with that statement, it is the truth. You are not black and you are not a black person over 50 from the south. I can't make it any simpler. Patton and hundreds of thousands of other fair skinned people lived and identified themselves as blacks and were therefore punished for that under a brutal Jim Crow system. I am not labeling them as black, that is how they identified themselves.
KhemuLuxons 1 year ago
@Facehoal black entertainers performed at exclusive establishments but could not stay at the hotels, eat in the restaurants or drink at the bar with their white audiences at most of these establishments. Do you know the history of legendary venues like the Cotton Club in NY? Whites were entertained by African captives on slave ships coming to the Americas! Popularity of black musicians did not deter racism and Jim Crow.
KhemuLuxons 1 year ago
@Facehoal My family hails from South Carolina and Alabama and it was just as racist as "doomsayers" say. I had (and still have) many relatives on my paternal side who weren't "fully black as a black man". Because they didn't "pass" and chose to live and marry among those who were "fully black" (whatever that means), They experienced all the horrors of USA style apartheid. Blacks performed for white audiences but had to enter thru back door or kitchen, cont.
KhemuLuxons 1 year ago
@KhemuLuxons Um....yes...I got your point the first time. Ive seen REAL life and I still have to see it and hear it and watch black people get screwed and messed with. Still goes on. I gotcha the first time. I am well aware.
NoRosesForMe 1 year ago
who cares whos what jerks listen to the music and be one
shannonandsheila1 1 year ago
I love charlie and i grant you that man was treated like a nigger
shannonandsheila1 1 year ago
people need to get real and save their collegiate babbling for their essays and thesis and ...whatever. Those of us who know the south are well aware of racism okay? ? This means anyone who wants to rant about how much they 'know' and what theyve heard their fkn professors yak about. Try real life. Can you handle it people?? I think not......
NoRosesForMe 1 year ago
How ignorant, those who say Patton was not black. In Jim Crow America, there was a "one drop" rule: if one drop of black blood flowed through your veins, you were black. Read a book.
slownoman 1 year ago
really did someone have to not like this?
wow
why the fuck r u watching it then
MrCaitlinwalker 1 year ago
His features are irish as well. He's a mix of all the best obviously.
webcityguy 1 year ago
im a white man proudly an they aint no white man know matter what they do ever gonna sound like that
sheilapatrick1 1 year ago 2
this man is an incredible guitar player. thank god for youtube.
SqueezeMyLemonBabe 1 year ago
Personally prefer Blind Willie, Robert Johnson and Leadbelly. But obviously Patton is still a legend who had more talent in his little finger, than i have in my whole being
edmundsampo 1 year ago
I want to go find the one person who thumbs downed this great musician and kick their ass!!!!!
ryanspeed 1 year ago
I can hear him in Howling wolf's music!
boxingin 1 year ago
I'm Cherokee too, 5'5'' like him, have oversized ears, and play the blues. Charlie's my hero!
thelordnick 1 year ago
If he aint a half-chat, I dunno who is.
Symbiosis, they call it, where two halves add up to more than one.
Look it up.
shinotora1X 1 year ago
Nice one, best Charlie Patton 'video' I've found on YT so far. Thanks for posting this
kidcalabria 1 year ago
The fourth annual Starr-Gennett Music Festival celebrates "Blues and BBQ" September 11, 2010 at the Whitewater Gorge Park (South 1st Street) in Richmond, IN from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Inducted into the Walk of Fame will be Alberta Hunter, Lonnie Johnson, and the Pace Jubilee Singers. Past inductee Charlie Patton will be honored.
StarrGennett 1 year ago 2
sooooo gooood!!!!!!! This will stand the test of time, like mozart, this will still be powerful in 200 years!!!!!!!!!!
olderbluesfan 1 year ago
the voice of the delta...
itsfloodindownintex 1 year ago
Patton is a musicalGIANT. rythmic genius, an acoustic guitar virtuoso whose acoustic riffs make Hendrix'selectric guitar work seem brittle. Without Patton there would have been any Son House, without Son House, no Robert Johnson, and without Robert, some argue rock,nroll may never had happened. Love all the string snapping and dampening. Alot of shameless imitators out there, some good: Howling Wolf, Some bad: Tom Waits. But Patton is one of a kind. The original Delta Bluesman.
populistherd 1 year ago 3
@populistherd I don't agree with your statement about Jimi Hendrix. Jimi Hendrix is the most solid guitar player of them all. He is Charlie Patton, Buddy Guy, Howlin Wolf, Robert Johnson, Blind Mellon, BB King, Albert King, Freddie King, T Bone Walker ect all blend into one.
boxingin 1 year ago
@boxingin Maybe Jimi Hendrix is the big one, but all those blues man are extraordinary.
aliciahostclub 1 year ago
@aliciahostclub Extraordinary is a good word to discribe these awsome men. Yes it is.
boxingin 1 year ago
Charlie Patton was as soulful as anything I've ever heard. In my opinion more soul than blues!
LadieTeardrop20 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Patton was America's Musical Shakespeare, as important as Gershwin or Cohan. He was the inspiration for a young Robert Johnson, the direct progenitor for Hendrix and so many to follow. When found Patton's grave was at the edge of a plantation garbage dump. See Mt. Zion Memorial Fund on Wikipedia. Thanks so much for posting this and for all who serve to preserve Patton's memory and legacy to our country's true cultural wealth.
inNOLa4life 1 year ago
Patton was America's Musical Shakespeare, as important as Gershwin or Cohan. He was the inspiration for a young Robert Johnson, the direct progenitor for Hendrix and so many to follow. When found Patton's grave was at the edge of a plantation garbage dump. See Mt. Zion Memorial Fund on Wikipedia. Thanks so much for posting this and for all who serve to preserve Patton's memory and legacy to our country's true cultural wealth.
inNOLa4life 1 year ago
blues will NEVER die
SilvaMorasten 1 year ago 3
you can surmise all you care too,,,about charlie,,,you can even go back further and surmise about jesus ! but when your blood drips it will be your own
JSLLH 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Pattons ethnicity is- 3/8 white, 2/8 black, 3/8, cherokee,
And thats it from the very good book included in the very posh (and well wort the money) screaming and hollering box set.
Not that it matters, mans a full blooded american!
killerkarl123 1 year ago
an'; the smokestack is black ana.. buildins shine like.. buildins shine like. buildins shine like GOLDD.
LikeSomeDickFuck1337 1 year ago
@LikeSomeDickFuck1337 the smokestack is black and the bell it shine like, bell it shine like, bell it shine like gold!
HowlinWilf13 1 year ago
real soul music here, no backstage editting...
bleuskais 1 year ago 2
See the racial comments-WHO CARES- he's an American. like half-Cheorkee Hendrix, or all Jewish Dylan, music is supposed to transcend all that-don't tell me it don't or my life has been for nothing.
kronoscorvinus 1 year ago 31
@kronoscorvinus i agree with you, but since when was hendrix half-cherokee?
jrcenina85 1 year ago
@jrcenina85 since the day of his birth :P Not that it was exactly a half, but yeah
Gilad11235 1 year ago
@kronoscorvinus dylan is a descendant of a convert that accepted judaism, judah came out of the word judah the 4th son of jacob, the true so called jews are black and millions around the world exist,hendrix,and every other so called black/negro singer are real jews,do your research
mastertung7 11 months ago
no autotune back then.....bring those days back!
Gunnercv 1 year ago 41
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@Gunnercv Gunnercv: "no autotune back then.....bring those days back!"- YES!! REAL music- of all styles, all of 'em- must make a comeback, and autotune abuse has gotta go!
CaevanOShite 1 year ago
@Gunnercv AMEN to that!
AvidiaNirvana 11 months ago
this dude on another level, you can see the smoke and fire from that campsite, whiskey, graveyards, elements,,that stuff he did with the infamous willie brown ya'll need to hear
aaronamccoy 2 years ago 3
"The smokestack is black and the buildings shine like gold"! I love listening to the really old blues because you can hear where a lot of the future blues came from.
slowmonkey156 2 years ago
Its funny... Ive always wondered what ethnicity the man actually was... all pictures show him with a really dark skin tone but heavily Caucasian features...
guess it proves us that american music has transcended complexion matters since its very beginnings
neopandorex 2 years ago 2
half native american half african american i heard
gageiiiiitttt 2 years ago
its hendrix's grandfather...
codehendrix 2 years ago
@neopandorex he is cherokee, white, and black
HellolzEveryone 2 years ago 3
His voice is simply wonderful!! and just wonder how he fit in back in the old days
MsKeepinItReal 2 years ago 3
oh that moon is going down baby that north stars gonna shine(twice) rossetta henry told me lord i dont want you hangin round oh well where were you now baby clarksdale mill burnt down(twice) theys a house over yonder paint all over green(twice) lord i think i heard that helena whisle blow(twice) but i aint gonna stop walkin till i get in my riders door. if you have no idea how to play charlie patton style check out gnugears video study that fingering in open g it will help if you commit :)
torrellmnblues 2 years ago
my bad after he says clarksdale mill burnt down he says " was way down sunflower with my face all fulla frowns" and after he says paint all over green he says "you know what they got over there spoken- lord the mightyest young women that ive ever seen :)
torrellmnblues 2 years ago
All these blues originators have the coolest/eeriest pictures.
Tockyard 2 years ago 5
Nahh he's not full blooded native american.
his father was black, his mother native.
Sam Chatmon and Charlie were half brothers.
AllKindsaGirls 2 years ago
I read that the Chatmon connection was just a speculation or sort of wishful thinking on Charley's part. Seein' as his father wouldn't let him play blues.
bootlegpreacher 2 years ago
I almost thought I knew somthinin bout the blues till I heard this...amazing!
myband45 2 years ago
this guy's music has touched me more that even Robert Johnson! amazing music
Jasonmcintyre2007 2 years ago
"Smokestack lightnin', shining just like gold." Man, that sounds familiar!
Takwish 2 years ago 2
I didn't think of that till you said it but, YEA it does!!!
olderbluesfan 2 years ago
1929!! damn how would someone have this?!
centrifuge1789 2 years ago
avoid Best Buy whenever possible! Vinyl shops are a great place to start, as are garage sales, I've found some real treasures buying vinyl a box at a time, folks didn't even know what was in there. Good for me, not for them.
PDXorcist 2 years ago
try buy his Paramount 78's, huuhh, veeery veery scarce if you ever find a copy
LynchburgSourMash 2 years ago
thats impossible. its hard enough to buy a record of any blues player, just the cd's..
HieronymousLex 2 years ago 2
when you hear music, real music like this, you can feel it deep it speaks to u, almost frightening.
s3k71on8 2 years ago 3
A true portrait of an evening in the Deep South.
JustUs8663 2 years ago 2
Just love this stuff !!!
olderbluesfan 2 years ago
It was rumor at the time he was indian,or at least part. Indians at the time were thought less of than even blacks.
sandboxshit 2 years ago 3
i honestly believe he was probably full blooded native american.
musicologyexists 2 years ago
and black Indians were thought even less of
subterranean47 2 years ago
Yeah, talk about a double whammy.
PDXorcist 2 years ago
no kiddin'
subterranean47 2 years ago
People treat the issue of race as though it's (pardon the expression) black and white. Most African Americans have a lot of European blood. If that simple fact doesn't solve the question of Charlie Patton's ancestry, I don't think anything ever will.
mrgabest 2 years ago
man this stuff hits the spot.
ATXviIIIe 2 years ago 3
How ironic. Alive he was a Black man who dealt with the virulent racism of the times, now in death there are those who are saying he was not Black!
KhemuLuxons 2 years ago 17
Please forgive because I don't know a lot about Charley Patton, but why would anyone say he's not black?
RushYesCrimson 2 years ago
He was a Black man with very fair skin and straight hair. So now some say he was not "really" Black. Has anyone seen photos of Etta James, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Cab Calloway, etc.,?
KhemuLuxons 2 years ago 2
its from a mixture of other things thru out their ancestry
subterranean47 2 years ago
Most "Black" folks are a mixture of "other things". But the reality is they lived as Black Americans and everything that came along with it during this era. There were those that "passed" , but these people didn't.
KhemuLuxons 2 years ago
of course
subterranean47 2 years ago
@KhemuLuxons Of course Mr. Patton was black. However, look at his hair and features.....there was a white boy in the woodpile somwhere in his moma's past.
PoppaBlue59 1 year ago
@PoppaBlue59 Majority of Black Americans have some white ancestry. Many would be surprised to learn actor Don Cheadle's DNA results revealed 19% European ancestry.
KhemuLuxons 1 year ago
@KhemuLuxons And alot of Whites also have some Black ancestry but it's still not cool to admit it...
boxingin 1 year ago
@boxingin Chelsea Clinton and Bob Barr appear to have some "sun" people ancestry.
KhemuLuxons 1 year ago
@KhemuLuxons Man we "Americans" some sexually active motherfuckers! lol
boxingin 1 year ago
@boxingin I don't have a problem with it.
Grungekid101 1 year ago
@Grungekid101 Cool!
boxingin 1 year ago
@PoppaBlue59 Charley claimed to have a Grandmother who was Cherokee.
retroflow44 1 year ago
@retroflow44 Yup charlie patton was an American of mixed heritage of African, european, and Native American. In the U.S., he is considered "black" of course.
osiruskat 1 year ago
@osiruskat Charlie Patton was what America is too become... A mixture.
boxingin 1 year ago
@KhemuLuxons I bet being so light skinned he also dealt with prejudice from other blacks, too.
boxingin 1 year ago
@boxingin There might have been a bit of prejudice on the part of some blacks, nothing comparable to the virulent white racism of that era. Light skin or mixed race black people have been prominent leaders and held great influence in the black community - Walter White, Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Mary Church Terrell, W.E.B. Dubois, Booker T. Washington, Frederick Douglas, John Hope, etc., No comparison.
KhemuLuxons 1 year ago
@KhemuLuxons Right, I agree. Noone should have to go through that kind of Bullshit as a human being! To make matters worse Elvis Presley was crowned the "King Of Rock & Roll" all while playing Black artists songs.... Shame on America!
boxingin 1 year ago
@KhemuLuxons I dwelled on your comment and you know what.... You're right. Mixed or not Charlie Patton lived and dealt with the racial discrimination of the time as a Black Man! He was a Black man!
boxingin 1 year ago
@boxingin In the Southern US during the turn of the 20th Century, especially in Mississippi, there was no middle ground. According to the culture and laws there, he was born a Black man, lived in segregation as a Black man, and died as a Black man. Today you can even visit his grave in a segregated Black cemetery. So all this revisionist debate you see here is moot. You came to the correct conclusion.
Mxyzptlk562 1 year ago
@Mxyzptlk562 Agreed! You can even hear it in his voice that he was a Black Man.
boxingin 1 year ago
@Mxyzptlk562 see my reply to Khemuluxons.....or whatever his name is...ffs
NoRosesForMe 1 year ago
@NoRosesForMe I am sure Mr. Patton knew about & acknowledge his heritage. But I also know that in the era of Jim Crow, it was reinforced to him every day that the diversity of his heritage did not matter a bit to his fellow white Mississpians. Most of them relished the in their obligation to harshly & sometimes violently enforce the laws of segregation.
Mxyzptlk562 1 year ago
@Mxyzptlk562 I'll tell you just like I'll tell Khemu......I live in the south. I despise it. I KNOW too well about racism. My grandfathers people...my moms dad....were Blackfoot & Irish - but people in this so called 'family' dont want the word 'black' to be spoken of when it comes to the family. This is a small example of the shit Ive known. OUR own people. So...you dont have to tell me about what its like down here okay? Im not ignorant. I am educated and I know all about the honkies okay?
NoRosesForMe 1 year ago
@NoRosesForMe It was not my intention at all to make blanket statements about white people. However, I was just giving you the reality of the times that Charley Patton lived. You were either "white" or "colored" (black) in Mississippi. Just how it was.
Mxyzptlk562 1 year ago
Comment removed
NoRosesForMe 1 year ago
@Mxyzptlk562 I understand. And I know you werent trying to make blanket comments. White people make blanket comments Hehe! Its just so sad how this kind of thing still goes on. I try to be good to everyone. But I have a hard time trusting white people because of all that. And Im a white woman. Makes me cry. Hurts to see it. And this is the 21st century. Terrible. But thanks & God bless you
NoRosesForMe 1 year ago
@KhemuLuxons He was indeed part Native American and part white. I dont like the word 'bi-racial' but he was that indeed. Nobody here seems to deny him his blackness. Just discussin hos heritage. Like for example... Im Cherokee & Blackfoot but Im white. Think about that. Nobodys makin a racial thing here.
NoRosesForMe 1 year ago
@NoRosesForMe Many comments stating he was "half Cherokee, half white, etc., It did not matter in the era that he lived in. The one drop rule reigned. His entire life was lived among other black people, little contact with others. Was just as much a victim of Jim Crow as Huddie Ledbetter, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Skip James, Son House, etc., "multi-cultural or bi-racial" heritage did not save one from the horrors of slavery and later Jim Crow.
KhemuLuxons 1 year ago
@KhemuLuxons see my reply to Mxyzptlk562 ....and remember it. Thanks x(
NoRosesForMe 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@KhemuLuxons He was indeed part Native American and part white. I dont like the word 'bi-racial' but he was that indeed. Nobody here seems to deny him his blackness. Just discussin his heritage. Like for example... Im Cherokee & Blackfoot but Im white. Think about that. Nobodys makin a racial thing here.
NoRosesForMe 1 year ago
My favourite Charley Patton song, love the dualling sound of the two guitars. The song was recorded in May 1930 however, not 1929.
elpanchito421 2 years ago
this music iz just great
stevenhyde1960 2 years ago
what a great session! this is actually a duet though with Willie brown helping out on guitar
paulomcn01 2 years ago
This cat was a one-man band.
Kirke182 2 years ago
oh that moon is goin down baby clarksdale suns gonna shine(twice) old heny told me lord i dont want you hangin round where were you now baby clarksdale mill burnt down(twice) i was way down sunflower with my face all full of frowns in the house over yonder painted over rain(twice) got the mightyest women lord i ever seen lord i think i heard that hailor whistle blow(twice) lord i aint gonna stop walkin till i get in my riders door well that smokestack is flyin village skylight moon
torrellthaburt 2 years ago 2
what really sucks is that charlie pattons music would only be available to the people who saw him in person nowadays cuz of that music industry i say thanks to youtube, sablues and chalie patton
torrellthaburt 2 years ago
his complete recordings were available on cd before youtube..
hulud99 2 years ago
my mistake but you obviously dont understand where im coming from
torrellthaburt 2 years ago
wonder part 2
brileb1 2 years ago
Hardcore blues, right here!
ilovetogofast88 2 years ago
this some prehistoric shit!
i like it
alamrisa 2 years ago 2
Now that I've started to listen to bluegrass and the Blues most contemporary musicians are just un-listenable to me...
dioisfreakinamazing6 2 years ago 5
exactly, no one has any guts any more, nowadays they play for one reason, money.
ElmoLewiss 2 years ago 4
eh, at some point modern music will collapse upon itself.
VarnakTheDestroyer 2 years ago 5
You are rigth man to me neither
elguerrero20 2 years ago
Charlie patton supposedly got his style from an older bluesman by the name of henry sloan.
fullerparkboxing 2 years ago
you're right. but its so old that all recordings of him were destroyed years and years ago...
samuelshepard 2 years ago
bukka white also sounds exactly like him.
6t4eldo 2 years ago
bukka was BB Kings cousin, if you didnt kn ow
samuelshepard 2 years ago
who is he?
=?
actenzaqueen12 2 years ago
Santa! Ignorant!!!
Hubbletz 2 years ago
"Who Is He"???? Charlie's the King of traditional delta Blues. Robert Johnson and Howling Wolf often sat at his feet to watch him play.
beethovenbix 2 years ago
Father of the Blues !
beethovenbix 2 years ago
1929!
The blues (not the music, the sentiment), didn't hit most of America big till Nov. of '29, when the Wall St. crash ushered in 10 years of the Great Depression (which we may be reprising 70 years later in 2009!)
The Roaring '20s turned into the Dirty '30s.
In '29, my Dad was 13, my Mom was 6.
They knew all about the "depression blues".
We're still in the early stages of learnin' about our own great 21st Century Depression, still unfolding, with lots of ugly years ahead, most likely.
Bobjb999 2 years ago 2
oh jesus
reissue 2 years ago
This man could play his ass off! It makes me ashamed that more young black american youth my age are not aware more of his recordings and his contributions!!!!!
treemonisha2006 2 years ago 4
This comment has received too many negative votes show
Why young black Americans? He wasn't black.
savagerabbit 2 years ago
What do you mean by that? He was a Indeed a Black American. He was a racial blend of African, European and Native American as are MOST Black Americans. Get your facts straight. He is apart of not only American History but also Black American history. If you don't want to accept that too bad. And why NOT Black Americans? Caucasians can enjoy his music w/o conflict but we can't? He was one of us as was Lemon Jefferson, Robert Johnson, Son House, Bukka White, etc.
treemonisha2006 2 years ago 3
He was, as you say, Caucasian, African, and Native American, not "black."
I don't know why specifically "young black american youth" should be more aware of his music. Everyone should be more aware of good music. Unless you're implying that "young black american youth" are especially ignorant of good music.
tguitartee 2 years ago
I suggest you spend some time reading on his life. He really was BLACK, for all practical purposes. Looking at his picture today (granted, there's only one surviving picture, and we can't be 100% positive it is really him), you can guess that he didn't really have much African blood in him, physically. But you need to understand, that it mattered very little -- he grew up among rural black people, and he was *treated* like a black person by everybody he ever knew. ...
piginspace13 2 years ago 5
(I was really replying to one of the comments below, where people were arguing he wasn't black; not sure why it ended on top)
more on his "blackness":
You can be absolutely positive that he never had any reason whatsoever during his life to doubt his "blackness". You have to realize in fact, that throughout his life he didn't really have that much contacts with white folks at all! The white folks from the record industry were really the first white people who had made any human contact with him.
piginspace13 2 years ago 2
He had all kinds of contact with white people. He was brutually discriminated against by them throughout his whole life. Just like all the other black people in the old south.
Diomedes22 2 years ago 3
Back then they had somethin called the 1 drop rule. If you had 1 drop of black blood you were black and therefore, well, treated like you were subhuman.
infamousnation 2 years ago 2