Charley Patton: Expanded Edition
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- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-08-17 09:52:45
- Update Date：2025-09-07
- Status：finish
- Author：John Fahey
- ISBN：0486843440
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Summary
The Father of the Delta Blues， Charley Patton （1891–1934） was born and raised around Mississippi's cotton plantations。 During the 1920s， he was the first of the region's great stars， performing for packed houses throughout the South and making popular recordings in New York City。 His music — ranging from blues and ballads to ragtime and gospel — is distinctive for his gravelly， high-energy singing and the propulsive beat of his guitar。 Patton had a lively stage presence， originating many of the guitar-playing antics now associated with Jimi Hendrix and other latter-day musicians。 His influence， among both his contemporaries and subsequent blues artists， is incalculable。
Noted guitarist John Fahey presents a textual and musicological examination of Patton's music。 This new edition of the original 1970 publication is enhanced by Fahey's notes from the Grammy-winning， out-of-print box set Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton。 Available for the first time outside the set， Fahey's reconsideration of Patton's music offers fresh perspectives and key corrections of the historical record。
Noted guitarist John Fahey presents a textual and musicological examination of Patton's music。 This new edition of the original 1970 publication is enhanced by Fahey's notes from the Grammy-winning， out-of-print box set Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton。 Available for the first time outside the set， Fahey's reconsideration of Patton's music offers fresh perspectives and key corrections of the historical record。
Reviews
Nate
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I’ve become obsessed with the music of Charley Patton after buying one of his CD compilations earlier this year。 For those unaware， Patton was a Delta blues performer， one of the earliest and most influential from the region。 There is so much raw emotion in his songs， and they remain haunting nearly a century later。 I’m a blues fan， having grown up listening to my parents’ blues albums， but I’d never heard Patton’s music （or much pre-war blues outside of Robert Johnson） until that CD。 Naturally I’ve become obsessed with the music of Charley Patton after buying one of his CD compilations earlier this year。 For those unaware， Patton was a Delta blues performer， one of the earliest and most influential from the region。 There is so much raw emotion in his songs， and they remain haunting nearly a century later。 I’m a blues fan， having grown up listening to my parents’ blues albums， but I’d never heard Patton’s music （or much pre-war blues outside of Robert Johnson） until that CD。 Naturally I wanted to find out more about the guy， so I looked to the library for help。 This is the first book on Patton I found， written by John Fahey， another musician I admire。 It was originally published in 1970 then expanded after being included in the （now absurdly expensive） Patton box set from 2001。 Whichever edition you read， this is a comprehensive， insightful document。After an introduction about the blues and a brief biography of Patton， Fahey delves in to the meat of the book: musical analysis of Patton’s songs。 I’ll say this right now - if you’re not a musician， this will be gibberish to you。 Fahey gets extremely technical， using music theory terms all over the place。 As a musician and music nerd， I loved Fahey’s obsessive analysis and found myself recalling the songs as I read about them， figuring out in my head how they fit with what Fahey was saying。 He analyzes Patton’s guitar tunings， song structures， types of songs， and lyrics with charts， lists， and more。 I like how Fahey categorizes the songs: blues， religious， rags， Tin Pan Alley， and “problematical” songs （i。e。 ones that don’t fit into a category）。 It shows the breadth of Patton’s influences and the type of music he was perhaps performing years before his first recording session in 1929。 Fahey’s analysis of the blues is especially illuminating; he goes into flatted third and sevenths， as well as the notes that don’t appear in Patton’s blues songs。 Finally， the book contains transcriptions of lyrics to nearly every song。 This is useful because it’s sometimes difficult to make out what Patton is saying （though I love his voice）。 Basically， everything you need to know about Patton’s recorded music is contained here。 It’s a supreme feat of nerdy musical analysis。Elsewhere， Fahey draws some interesting conclusions about Patton’s life。 He notes that while Patton was musically proficient， even genius， he was first and foremost an entertainer。 This would explain his use of Tin Pan Alley song structures in several songs。 Also， even though Patton seemingly wanted to be a global star， he sang about little else outside his world – the furthest geographical reference is Chicago。 There’s more， like Patton’s opposing religious and secular lifestyles， his final recordings， etc。 Fahey has a lot to say on this person whose life is not well-documented。While reading the book， I came to realize that Fahey is analyzing in an academic way music that never asked to be。 It’s “folk” music from a specific community Fahey is not from， and here he is making meaning out of it。 I can see how this might be troubling to some but I found Fahey’s approach respectful and entirely out of appreciation。 He never talks down to Patton or his music， treating it with absolute sincerity。 If you know Fahey’s music you know he loved country blues and was in fact friends with some of those early musicians。This edition contains a rejoinder to folklorist David Evans， who took issue with some of Fahey’s remarks about Patton’s intelligence and role as an entertainer。 Fahey says he didn’t intend for it to come off that way - I didn’t react how Evans did - and that he does see Patton as a superior performer in command of his craft。If you like Charley Patton’s music， this is a must-read。 As I said， musicians will get more out of this than non-musicians， but there’s plenty of fascinating stuff surrounding the musicology。 And if you’ve gotten to this point in the review and haven’t heard Patton’s music。。。 well， you just wasted three minutes you should have used to listen to one of his songs。 。。。more
Eric
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