The story of Delta blues starts with
Charley Patton. His slashing slide style, hoarse and gruff vocals, and unerring ability to personalize even the most mundane blues lyric provides the template that eventually led to electric Chicago blues and beyond.
Patton's 78s have been collected in several fine packages, including the JSP box called Complete Recordings, Catfish's three-disc budget box called Definitive Charley Patton, and the last word in all this, the impressive (and expensive) seven-disc Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues from Revenant Records. This single-disc selection from Snapper works as an inexpensive single-disc introduction to
Patton, and it contains his best-known songs like "Pony Blues," the two-part "High Water Everywhere," "Mississippi Boweavil Blues," "Down the Dirt Road Blues," "High Sheriff Blues," and "Revenue Man Blues." ~ Steve Leggett