hi ,Charlie Patton is an aquired taste,many blues fans can't get into him or find him sloppy.
I've found that most people come to Patton from Johnson, and so, find him old fashioned and also struggle with the recording quality .Most blues fans, that I've known,have read how great Patton is,and know they should listen to him, but can't take him.You can sense how uncomfortable and uneasy they feel. I myself, was a Patton fan years before I'd even heard Johnson,so never had that problem.If anyone out there can't see what all the fuss is about, I urge you to keep trying,he is a tremendous musician.
I can take or leave Johnson,but I personally find Patton to be the epitome of rural blues,as far as I am concerned no one is even on the same page.I see him in the same class, as a rural musician,as Blake is to the more sophisticated/hip, city musician.Both are so far ahead of the game.
I was lucky enough to have some nice 78's years ago,got broke down and hungry,and had to sell them.
Patton on 78,through headphones,like Blake, is a revelation.They are so at ease,with what they're playing,so natural,I truly believe they are both holding back to get a good recording,where as when I listen to Johnson,he sounds fully stretched,chemically enhanced maybe.Still great music, but..? Apart from Patton's incredible sense of space and time,I also think he is also one of the best slide players ever recorded,he is nearly always spot on his target tone ,and that is extremely hard to achieve when he's so animated elsewhere,hand's and feet, and that voice.God,he really is nasty.I've tried many guitars over the years,and tried to get the sounds.I'm pretty sure Patton played a tailpiece guitar,Stella,most probably, and think Blake played a small Washburn/Supertone....probably wrong...probably played telecasters.Not sure what Johnson played,think maybe the guitar in the photo,could be a prop,borrowed ? but there again I can get somewhere near,tonewise, with an L3,so who knows ?... country blues is littered with preconceptions and misconceptions,mine included.
While I'm here,...I'd just like to add...I have an old worn out Paramount of Police Dog Blues.The guitar is recorded very powerfully and up front,I have never heard any of the reissues sounding this strong.
I believe that Blake was renowned and fully developed by the time he finally got to Chicago,and that the engineers were truly trying everything they could to showcase his guitar work,I think that by 29 he was untouchable and sent to Richmond, out of desperation ,to try and record him as best as could be done,which they did,and which resulted in what I think is the greatest session in blues history.I really think he was being pushed as a novelty guitar genius as opposed to just another blues singer who happened to be a good guitar picker.I also think most blues singers,thought it alot more important to be busy working musicians than to make records,and so, much great music got away.
Little Brother Montgomery once told a friend of mine,that he used to play rent partys with Blake and that he was always sorry that they never got around to recording together........I'm sorry too.
