⬇️ CHARLEY PATTON ⬇️
DISCOGRAPHY 1971-2022 (44LP/CD)
BIOGRAPHY
Patton (who was well educated by the standards of his time) spelled his
name Charlie, but many sources, including record labels and his
gravestone, use the spelling Charley.
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.
Most sources say he was born in April 1891, but the years 1881, 1885 and
1887 have also been suggested. Patton's parentage and race also are
uncertain. His parents were Bill and Annie Patton, but locally he was
regarded as having been fathered by former slave Henderson Chatmon,
several of whose children became popular Delta musicians, as solo
performers and as members of groups such as the Mississippi Sheiks.
Biographer John Fahey described Patton as having "light skin and Caucasian
features."
Patton was considered African-American, but because of his light
complexion there has been much speculation about his ancestry over the
years. One theory endorsed by blues musician Howlin' Wolf was that Patton
was Mexican or Cherokee. It is now generally agreed that Patton was of
mixed heritage, with white, black, and Native ancestors.
Some believe he had a Cherokee grandmother; however, it is also widely
asserted by historians that he was between one-quarter and one-half
Choctaw. 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 ..... (Wikipedia)