Blues scholars agree that Charlie Patton was the first verifiably documented Delta Blues player.
The only living relative of Charlie Patton, the first recorded Delta Bluesman.
The real “ Crossroads” where Charlie Patton left cotton picking to seek his fortune in the world.
The reason the majority of slaves were brought to Mississippi…the Mississippi River.
When the Mississippi River would flood, the levee would break and for hundreds of miles there was devastation…but, afterwards the alluvial soil created the most fecund ground in America.
A land of extremes….The horror of slavery contrasting with the fertility “down by the river”.
Rosedale Mississippi… the heart of the Mississippi Delta. Rosedale juts out into the Mississippi River and is the best (meaning the cheapest) place to load bales of cotton onto riverboats and barges to transport to England to make clothing.
The plantation where Charlie Patton lived.
Tom Cannon, Charlie Patton’s 78 year old cousin (1987).
The church where Charlie Patton preached…when he wasn’t in the jukes.
The “ Big House” where the post-slave masters, The Dockery family, lived. I spoke to the Dockerys. They had some extremely harsh things to say about Charlie Patton.
I interviewed Tom Cannon and his friend Ruffin Scott. Both had equally harsh things to say about Charlie Patton.