Charley Patton - Complete Recordings 1929-34 (CD)

Charley Patton is widely regarded as perhaps the archetypal early exponent of Mississippi Delta blues. He was a true original with a distinctive slide guitar technique, and he performed a range of blues, spirituals and ballads in a powerful, intense, even primitive, fashion which uniquely captures the style and spirit of the genre. His recording career was restricted to a few sessions between 1929 and 1934, from which around thirty double-sided '78s were released, first on Paramount and latterly on Vocalion, and that was the entirety of his recorded output before his premature death from a heart disorder in 1934 aged 45. This collection comprises the entirety of that canon, including six tracks on which he played guitar, with Henry Sims and Bertha Lee erspectively performing the vocals. Anyone seriously interested in the blues and it's history needs to have heard Charley Patton, and this anthology provides a comprehensive overview of his work.

Track List:

Disc: 1

1. Pony Blues
2. Banty Rooster Blues
3. Prayer of Death, Pt. 1
4. Prayer of Death, Pt. 2
5. Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues
6. Mississippi Boweavil Blues
7. Down the Dirt Road Blues
8. It Won't Be Long
9. Shake It and Break It (But Don't Let It Fall Mama)
10. Spoonful Blues
11. Pea Vine Blues
12. Tom Rushen Blues
13. Lord I'm Discouraged
14. I'm Goin' Home
15. High Water Everywhere
16. High Water Everywhere, Pt. 2
17. Farrell Blues
18. Come Back Corrina
19. Rattlesnake Blues
20. Running Wild Blues
21. Be True Be True Blues

Disc: 2

1. Tell Me Man Blues
2. Mean Black Cat Blues
3. Magnolia Blues
4. Mean Black Moan
5. Heart Like Railroad Steel
6. Green River Blues
7. Elder Greene Blues
8. Jesus Is a Dying-Bed Maker
9. I Shall Not Be Moved
10. Hammer Blues
11. When Your Way Gets Dark
12. Moon Going Down
13. Going to Move to Alabama
14. Some Happy Day
15. You're Gonna Need Somebody When You Die
16. Circle Round the Moon
17. Devil Sent the Rain Blues
18. Bird Nest Bound
19. Dry Well Blues
20. Jim Lee Blues, Pt. 1

Disc: 3

1. Some Summer Day
2. Frankie and Albert
3. Some These Days I'll Be Gone
4. Joe Kirby
5. Jim Lee Blues Pt. 2
6. Poor Me
7. 34 Blues
8. Yellow Bee
9. Mind Reader Blues
10. High Sheriff Blues
11. Stone Pony Blues
12. Jersey Bull Blues
13. Love My Stuff
14. Oh Death
15. Troubled 'Bout My Mother
16. Revenue Man Blues
17. Hang It on the Wall
18. Elder Greene Blues [Take 2] [Take]
19. Hammer Blues [Take 2] [Take]
20. Some These Days I'll Be Gone [Take 2] [Take]