King of the Delta Blues

Born 130 years ago in the heart of Mississippi, Charlie Patton (c. 18911934) is considered by many to be a father of the Delta blues. With his bullish baritone voice and his fluid slide guitar touch, Patton established songs like Pony Blues, A Spoonful Blues, and High Water Everywhere in the blues lexicon and, through his imitators, in American music. But over the decades, his contributions to blues music have been overshadowed in popularity by those of Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and other mid-century bluesmen and women whove experienced a resurgence in their music. King of the Delta Blues Singers, originally published in 1988, began a small renaissance in Patton and blues research. And now, with the wide availability of Pattons complete discography on CD and as digital downloads, this completely revised second edition continues the story of Charlie Pattons legacy. Gayle Dean Wardlow and the late Stephen Calt (19462010) originally probed Pattons career in the Mississippi Delta, his early performances and recordings, and his musical legacy that continues to influence todays guitarists and performers, including such musicians as Jack White and Larkin Poe. For this second edition, Wardlow and Edward Komara refined the text and rewrote major sections, updating them with new scholarship on Patton and Delta blues. And finally, Komara has added a new afterword bringing Patton into the contemporary blues conversation and introducing numerous musical examples for the modern researcher and musician. The second edition of King of the Delta Blues Singers will further cement Pattons legacy among important blues musicians, and it will be of interest to anyone absorbed in the beginnings of the Delta blues and music biographies.