Released 4/27/09
Editorial ReviewThis year marks the 75th anniversary of the ''Father of the Delta Blues'' C harley Patton. Patton was not the first Mississippi Bluesmen to record but he was without doubt the most important. Through his songbook and performances the Blues in the Delta became a major movement and many of the greatest artists from that region owe a great debt to C harley Patton. Son House, Robert Johnson, Tommy Johnson, Howlin¡¯ Wolf and just about any other Delta Blues artist from the first half of the last century all have Patton to thank for his groundbreaking work. Although he was definitely a pioneer Patton himself had influences and on this set we not only look at those artists that followed in his wake but also his contemporaries and those that came before him. Patton borrowed music or ly rics from many artists including Ma Rainey , Bessie Smith, Blind Lemon Jefferson, the Mississippi Sheiks, Blind Willie Johnson, Jim Jackson and many more. This 60 track set contains many of Patton¡¯s best known songs as well as the sources for those songs and covers or variants by those artists that came after him. Also included is the DVD, ''Talkin' Patton'', that contains interv iews with musicians, musicologists. Blues scholars and Delta historians and contains brand new footage of Dockery 's, the legendary plantation where Patton was raised and where many people believe the Delta Blues truly blossomed as an art form.