It was a warm summer day in June, 1929, 88 years ago. In the town of Richmond Indiana, a man sat down, in a wooden chair in a room with blankets draped around the room, and a microphone right next to the chair. The man smelled like tobacco and his mouth smelled like a bottle of malt whiskey. The man was on a journey away from his home of the Mississippi delta where cotton was king and the man was a star. The man sat down in the old chair, with him a Stella guitar with a tree of life inlay, his prized possession, and the chair creaked when he moved to get comfortable. The recording engineer asked him if he was ready, the man answered that he was ready to start. The man began to strum his guitar and began to growl and sing. His voice was loud, it sounded like gravel, his guitar he hit and would pick that day for hours. The man who was doing all of this was an mixed, curly haired star from the Mississippi delta that everyone wanted to be like, his name was Charley Patton. Charley Patton would open a new door for the world of blues music and modern music that blind lemon Jefferson had done for other blues musicians. The man's recordings have become just scratchy records we hear on YouTube but he was one of the foremost stars of the delta. The man was a mentor and helped many musicians including the mysterious Eddie son house who would at times love Patton and hate him.
