Come home Charley Patton is a moving and an imaginative memoir documenting the Civil Rights Era and contemporary southern culture. Intricately layered and deeply arresting, Ralph Lemon's research on the African American experience intertwines personal anecdotes and family remembrances with diaristic accounts of the making of a dance, as Lemon journeys the mythic roads of migration—visiting the sites of lynchings, following the paths of Civil Rights marches, and meeting the descendants of early blues musicians. Come home Charley Patton is a rich, transcendent text, and a historically-charged meditation on memory in America. It is a formidable finale for the Geography trilogy (including Geography and Tree), three books connected thematically by racial identity and the related dance projects choreographed by Lemon. Generously illustrated with family photos, original art, and photos of the performance, the book will take its place in the canon of great African American writing.

Noted guitarist John Fahey presents a textual and musicological examination of the music of blues legend Charley Patton. This new edition is enhanced by Fahey's notes from the Grammy-winning, out-of-print box set Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues: The Worlds of Charley Patton.

Born 130 years ago in the heart of Mississippi, Charlie Patton (c. 1891–1934) is considered by many to be a father of the Delta blues. With his bullish baritone voice and his fluid slide guitar touch, Patton established songs like “Pony Blues,” “A Spoonful Blues,” and “High Water Everywhere” in the blues lexicon and, through his imitators, in American music. But over the decades, his contributions to blues music have been overshadowed in popularity by those of Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and other mid-century bluesmen and women who’ve experienced a resurgence in their music. King of the Delta Blues Singers, originally published in 1988, began a small renaissance in Patton and blues research. And now, with the wide availability of Patton’s complete discography on CD and as digital downloads, this completely revised second edition continues the story of Charlie Patton’s legacy. Gayle Dean Wardlow and the late Stephen Calt (1946–2010) originally probed Patton’s career in the Mississippi Delta, his early performances and recordings, and his musical legacy that continues to influence today’s guitarists and performers, including such musicians as Jack White and Larkin Poe. For this second edition, Wardlow and Edward Komara refined the text and rewrote major sections, updating them with new scholarship on Patton and Delta blues. And finally, Komara has added a new afterword bringing Patton into the contemporary blues conversation and introducing numerous musical examples for the modern researcher and musician. The second edition of King of the Delta Blues Singers will further cement Patton’s legacy among important blues musicians, and it will be of interest to anyone absorbed in the beginnings of the Delta blues and music biographies.

Blues Book of the Year —26th Annual Living Blues Awards Contributions by Luther Allison, John Broven, Daniel Droixhe, David Evans, William Ferris, Jim O'Neal, Mike Rowe, Robert Sacré, Arnold Shaw, and Dick Shurman Fifty years after Charley Patton's death in 1934, a team of blues experts gathered five thousand miles from Dockery Farms at the University of Liege in Belgium to honor the life and music of the most influential artist of the Mississippi Delta blues. This volume brings together essays from that international symposium on Charley Patton and Mississippi blues traditions, influences, and comparisons. Originally published by Presses Universitaires de Liège in Belgium, this collection has been revised and updated with a new foreword by William Ferris, new images added, and some essays translated into English for the first time. Patton's personal life and his recorded music bear witness to how he endured and prevailed in his struggle as a black man during the early twentieth century. Within this volume, that story offers hope and wonder. Organized in two parts—“Origins and Traditions” and “Comparison with Other Regional Styles and Mutual Influence”—the essays create an invaluable resource on the life and music of this early master. Written by a distinguished group of scholars, these pieces secure the legacy of Charley Patton as the fountainhead of Mississippi Delta blues.

Born into poverty in Mississippi at the close of the nineteenth century, Charley Patton and Jimmie Rodgers established themselves among the most influential musicians of their era. In Tune tells the story of the parallel careers of these two pioneering recording artists -- one white, one black -- who moved beyond their humble origins to change the face of American music. At a time when segregation formed impassable lines of demarcation in most areas of southern life, music transcended racial boundaries. Jimmie Rodgers and Charley Patton drew inspiration from musical traditions on both sides of the racial divide, and their songs about hard lives, raising hell, and the hope of better days ahead spoke to white and black audiences alike. Their music reflected the era in which they lived but evoked a range of timeless human emotions. As the invention of the phonograph disseminated traditional forms of music to a wider audience, Jimmie Rodgers gained fame as the "Father of Country Music," while Patton's work eventually earned him the title "King of the Delta Blues." Patton and Rodgers both died young, leaving behind a relatively small number of recordings. Though neither remains well known to mainstream audiences, the impact of their contributions echoes in the songs of today. The first book to compare the careers of these two musicians, In Tune is a vital addition to the history of American music.

The Specter and the Speculative: Afterlives and Archives in the African Diaspora engages in a critical conversation about how historical subjects and historical texts within the African Diaspora are re-fashioned, re-animated, and re-articulated, as well as parodied, nostalgized, and defamiliarized, to establish an “afterlife” for African Atlantic identities and narratives. These essays focus on transnational, transdisciplinary, and transhistorical sites of memory and haunting—textual, visual, and embodied performances—in order to examine how these “living” archives circulate and imagine anew the meanings of prior narratives liberated from their original context. Individual essays examine how historical and literary performances—in addition to film, drama, music, dance, and material culture—thus revitalized, transcend and speak across temporal and spatial boundaries not only to reinstate traditional meanings, but also to motivate fresh commentary and critique. Emergent and established scholars representing diverse disciplines and fields of interest specifically engage under explored themes related to afterlives, archives, and haunting.

"Travel back to the birth of the blues, from the age-old field-hollers of Mississippi cotton fields to the hidden world of Delta juke joints, to the nightclubs of Chicago." - See Reviews Below "Finding Charley Patton" is a historical novel set in 1930, in Mississippi and Chicago. An African American reporter for the Chicago Defender travels back to Mississippi to find the mysterious Delta blues musicians who began appearing on 'race records' in the late 1920s. Black history and the blues are deeply interwoven into the fabric of America. The emergence of the radical new African American artform called "the Blues," and the blues culture the music inspired, had a profound impact on American society, both artistically and culturally. Yet the story of the blues is an often-overlooked chapter in the nation's history. In this rousing and entertaining adventure book, the story follows reporter Cyrus Jordan on his challenging journey, deep into "Jim-Crow" Mississippi, to write a story about the new Delta blues music. Cyrus Jordan, had worked in the Delta as a young man, and he hopes to find one bluesman in particular that he'd known there, named Charley Patton, who's recently been making records for Paramount. During the trip, the elusive history of the blues unfolds, along with the troubling social history of African Americans in Mississippi. But the book is about much more than the hard times often sung about in blues songs. It is also a tale of triumph over adversity and a great road-trip story, with a cast of complex and colorful characters and great blues music. The novel journeys deep into the hidden world of blues music found in cotton fields, juke joints, recording studios, and on street corners. The story follows the exploits of Mississippi blues musicians Charley Patton, Son House, Willie Brown, and their young proteges Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters, as they perform around the Delta during the vibrant days of the early blues. The book also explores the Chicago blues scene of the 1920s and pioneering black record producer Mayo Williams, who recorded the early blues records for Paramount. As a black man from Chicago, Cyrus Jordan's long and arduous trip back to Mississippi to search for his old friend Charley Patton, whose music had transcended the Delta, becomes a journey into finding Cyrus's own roots and American identity. "Finding Charley Patton" is an inspiring story of music and life. Cover photo (C) 2003 Blues Images - Used with permission REVIEWS (This book was originally published in December of 2019, as "The Promise of the Blues" Here are some "Top reviews from the United States" PeterG - 5.0 out of 5 stars One not to miss! - Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2020 A fascinating work, a must for the lovers of the Blues! JerryG - 5.0 out of 5 stars If you're interested in the history of the Blues, you'll enjoy this book! Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2020 - "The Promise of the Blues" is a compelling thesis on the history of the Delta Blues, and the social conditions surrounding the music, wrapped in a very entertaining novel. A great read! JoAnn R. - 5.0 out of 5 stars I recommend this book for a good read. July 20, 2020 - Great book, really enjoyed reading it. An insightful adventure tale of music and identity. Amazon Customer - 5.0 out of 5 stars The Real Feel of the blues and the characters and life and times of back then. April 16, 2020 - An excellent, entertaining, and important read! Lara D - 5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough history and social commentary placed in a delightful package July 19, 2020 -The amount of historical gems in this book is impressive.....a very pleasurable read....