Having been ten-years old at the time, Howard walked right out to the cemetery and pointed out the unmarked grave of Patton. It was almost exactly where the intuitive researcher had been overcome with a chill on a stormy evening ten years prior. Around 1914, Patton began playing his guitar with members of the Chatmon family, working picnics and frolics. Lord I know He was born on May 1, 1891, in Hinds County near Edwards or Bolton, Mississippi. Patton's gravesite sits on land alongside a cotton gin donated by Billy Robertson, who owned the surrounding farms on what once was Heathman plantation. Recognizing this burial ground and taking all subsequent steps to restore, preserve, and maintain abandoned African American cemeteries is a concrete, inspiring way of repudiating, rejecting, and attempting to overcome the residual manifestations of racism in America. The current state of many segregated, black cemeteries remains dire in Mississippi and the rest of the South, and the Mt. [10] Tommy Johnson, Fiddlin' Joe Martin, Robert Johnson, and Chester Burnett (who went on to gain fame in Chicago as Howlin' Wolf) also lived and performed in the area, and Patton served as a mentor to these younger performers. Charley Patton died April 28, 1934, at 350 Heathman Street in Indianola, Mississippi. Patton was considered African-American, but because of his light complexion there has been much speculation about his ancestry over the years. Born in April 1891, between Edwards and Bolton in southern Mississippi, Charley Patton was the scrawny child of sharecropper parents. Courtesy of Jim O'Neal. Lord I know my time ain't long Bessie Turner interviewed by David Evans and Bob Vinisky, Greenville, Mississippi, March 10, 1979. [19], A memorial headstone was erected on Patton's grave (the location of which was identified by the cemetery caretaker, C. Howard, who claimed to have been present at the burial), paid for by musician John Fogerty through the Mt. La musique de Patton démontrait les similarités essentielles entre le blues et la musique religieuse afro-américaine. It was through Skip Henderson that he learned about how Patton, like the great Robert Johnson, had been buried without a headstone. Panny Mayfield, “A Tribute to Patton, ‘The Voice of the Delta,” (Clarksdale, MS) Press-Register, July 23, 1991. It says, ‘Let your light shine that men may see your good work and glorify our Father which art in heaven.’ I’ll never forget it. En 1905, à l’âge de 14 ans, Patton commença à prendre des leçons de guitare auprès d’Earl Harris[1], qui lui apprit la chanson You Take My Woman and Maggie. Rosetta Patton Brown was not there when they buried her father. [7] In "Down the Dirt Road Blues", Patton sang of having gone to "the Nation" and "the Territo'", referring to the Cherokee Nation's portion of the Indian Territory (which became part of the state of Oklahoma in 1907), where a number of Black Indians tried unsuccessfully to claim a place on the tribal rolls and thereby obtain land. Stream ad-free or purchase CD's and MP3s now on Amazon.com. [17] The death certificate does not mention Bertha Lee; the only informant listed is one Willie Calvin. Some believe he had a Cherokee grandmother;[6] however, it is also widely asserted by historians that he was between one-quarter and one-half Choctaw. “Rock Guitarist Tom Fogerty dies at age 48,” (Jackson, MS) Clarion Ledger, Dep 15, 1990. His latest, and last, wife Bertha Lee accompanied him on some of these sides; sadly the masters of the unissued sides are missing. But above all else Charley was an entertainer. Ses techniques de guitare étaient très variées : il utilisait de nombreux accordages, tonalités, le bottleneck et différentes techniques de picking. His place of birth is Hinds County, Mississippi, United States of America. Patton died in Holly Ridge, not Holly Springs, Your email address will not be published. Oh move my pillow, then turn my bed around (x3) [3] Patton's parentage and race also are uncertain. By 1910, he had become proficient as a performer and songwriter, having already composed "Down The Dirt Road Blues," a slow drag called "Banty Rooster Blues," and his theme song "Pony Blues." Le finger-picking polyrythmique de Patton, accompagnée par le tapping du corps de la guitare, créa une mélodie complexe de danse dont le musicien pouvait jouer pour trente minutes ou plus. Charlie Patton, mieux connu sous Charley Patton (né à Bolton dans le Mississippi en 1891 et mort à Indianola également dans le Mississippi le 28 avril 1934) était un guitariste et chanteur de Delta blues américain. He said, ‘Did you hear that? Still hoping more relatives or acquaintances might show up, O’Neal went through phone books from all the surrounding counties and sent a note with an invitation to everyone inside with the last name Patton. John Fogerty delivered an unannounced and short, yet raucous, set of his Creedence Clearwater Revival hits with a local pick-up group which demonstrated his debt to musicians such as Patton. Cest à cet endroit que Patton développa son amour pour la musique. Patton’s great-grandchildren stood before a tapestry of the Last Supper and delivered a touching rendition of the song “Memories Are All I Have Left.”  Indianola mayor Tommy McWilliams, who grew up at Holly Ridge, provided opening remarks and spoke of local history. Some played with him, some knew him as a friend, others saw him perform or quite simply they aspired to be both as good and as well known as Patton. Il fréquenta au bout d'un certain temps Willie Brown, un guitariste qui deviendra plus tard un personnage récurrent dans sa carrière et dans ses enregistrements. Patton was born in Hinds County, Mississippi, near the town of Edwards, and lived most of his life in Sunflower County, in the Mississippi Delta. The Depression was also underway and it may also have been the case that Paramount was limiting what it recorded, they did in fact have a backlog of unreleased Patton sides. Required fields are marked *. Charley Patton sur scène ne se contentait pas de jouer des morceaux de musique mais il offrait à son auditoire un spectacle total où il n'hésitait pas à faire le clown, jongler avec sa guitare et interpeler les spectateurs.
Let the mark be Jesus Christ.”  One observer believed that the inspiring sermon had shocked some of the media folks and others who had travelled from far off to attend, as the pastor’s traditional style and delivery had the whole church rocking. The massive cotton press and other machines used in the nearby cotton gin had always produced a healthy amount of waste. [9] Patton performed at Dockery and nearby plantations and began an association with Willie Brown.

Charley Patton (died April 28, 1934), also known as Charlie Patton, was an American Delta blues musician.

[4] Biographer John Fahey described Patton as having "light skin and Caucasian features."[5]. Performance Review: "Come Home Charley Patton": Part 3 of the "Geography Trilogy". We save rural cemeteries by any means necessary--whether it’s erecting memorials to musicians, engaging legal remedies, or filling the vast silences in important historical landscapes. “New Marker Honors Patton,” Hattiesburg (MS) American, July 23, 1991. Skip Henderson told the crowd at his grave that Patton “roamed the Delta like a lion; a master guitarist and composer, a widely known celebrity sought after by wealthy landowners and share croppers alike, the most successful Delta recording star of his time…This recognition for Charley Patton is long overdue. Considered by many to be the "Father of the Delta Blues", he created an enduring body of American music and inspired most Delta blues musicians. “It was him who started me off to playing. Patton est aujourd’hui considéré comme le « père du delta blues » et est une des figures antérieures les mieux connues de la musique populaire américaine. Tales of his singing, playing and life are many and they all point to the fact that he was an original, one that many of the younger players looked up too. Charley Patton was the inspiration for every Delta bluesman that followed in his wake and his influence still resonates today. Lord I know It is more likely that it could also be a tinge of jealousy on the part of some of his contemporaries. The two men visited the store almost adjacent to New Jerusalem Missionary Baptist (MB) Church, and they tracked down the longtime cemetery caretaker, Joseph “Cootchie” Howard, who recalled where the blues legend had been laid to rest back in 1934. The underlying motive of erecting the grave marker was not only to raise awareness in Mississippi about the significance of Patton and the blues as the roots of contemporary popular music. Photo by Jim O'Neal 1991. Photo by Jim O'Neal.
Lord I know my time ain't long

Check out Oh Death by Charley Patton on Amazon Music. Oriented towards family and community as opposed to the media, the ceremony was discerning, yet tasteful, opening with a prayer and choir selection in traditional fashion.