Biblioteca de la Guitarra y Cuerda Pulsada

Charley Patton, the «Father of the Delta Blues» exemplifies many characteristics of the Delta Blues: a rough and raspy voice, a relaxed articulation, and a minimalistic approach to musical form such as melody and harmony. In his blues singing he avoided singing the third and seventh tone at a discrete pitch; he rather applied a permanent glissando approximately a semitone around the equal tempered pitch or around the «neutral third».

Born in the late Nineteenth Century, Patton belongs to the first generation of blues performers, which already had performed years—if not even decades—before they were discovered by the record industry. In this regard, Patton is also an example of an African-American musician who played almost everything the audience liked and therefore was not restricted to blues. Patton is outstanding in so far as even in his recordings he was not restricted to blues
 

Tilo Hähnel, a Brief Portrait of: Charley Patton, May 30, 2012
Highschool of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar
Department of Musicology Weimar | Jena
«Voices & Singing in Popular Music in the U.S.A. (1900–1960)»
Research project funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) PF 669/4-1

a Brief Portrait of: Charley Patton