In 1984, Robert Sacré coordinated the International Conference on Charley Patton at the University of Liège in Belgium. This current volume revisits the resultant 1987 French-language book publication that was titled The Voice of the Delta: Charley Patton and the Mississippi Blues Traditions. This new book features original articles by major writers and participants. A foreword by William Ferris initiates the volume, and the editors note that some pieces have been expanded and revised for this new publication. The literal and figurative centerpiece is David Evans’s “Charley Patton: The Conscience of the Delta.” Additional features provide context for Patton’s blues music, and other chapters explore his influence on blues outside of the region. The publication works both as a record of conference proceedings and as a historical snapshot of significant blues scholarship. Reflections on contemporary developments in blues scholarship add to the significance of Charlie Patton: Voice of the Mississippi Delta.
Many of the essays reflect an earlier received history of the blues. Articles assert Delta origins for the blues, delineate highly formalized patterns in blues music, and posit folk origins for the genre. The writing often reflects the prevalence of these ideas within blues scholarship, and the authors make important points about the music. However, in the past three decades, much of this historical and cultural context has been called into question. Researchers such as Lynn Abbott and Doug Seroff document the use of “blues” to describe a musical genre prior to its documented history in this region. Scholarship demonstrates that distinctive styles of blues were nurtured in the Delta, but researchers show that the story is not simply one of blues from the Delta but rather blues coming through the Delta. Current research also challenges the assumption of “folk origins” for blues as blues is present in turn-of-the-century minstrel and vaudeville shows prior to documentation of blues in rural Delta communities. The blues is formulaic, but there has been a nearly dogmatic assumption of formalistic cohesion within the music that even scholars at the original conference challenged. All of the articles include valid points and important insights, yet it is also important to read them within a historical context.
The most significant contribution is Evans’s in-depth treatment of Patton’s biography and musicianship. It comprises almost one-third of the entire book. Evans expanded his original article to provide an essential resource for understanding Patton’s blues. The article is a tour de force of Evans’s exceptional scholarship. Augmenting library and archival sources with interviews of those who had been associated with Patton, Evans crafts a deep biographical portrait of this first-generation blues musician. Evans then insightfully analyzes significant blues compositions and provides an in-depth reading of both the lyrical artistry and the historical contexts for major tunes within Patton’s repertoire. Patton emerges as an elusive and complex character, and Evans provides deep insight into overt and veiled references in his music.
The book can be read as a bit of a social history of both blues music and of blues scholarship itself. There are some major historical themes that writers explore throughout the book. Notably, Mike Rowe challenges the idea that there has been a long history of Delta blues’ influences on Chicago blues. While the more recent impact is undeniably strong, Rowe illustrates how there already was a distinct and active blues scene in Chicago that enfolded Delta musicians who had migrated there during the mid-twentieth century. Other writers explore the importance of researchers like Alan Lomax and John Work, and they suggest limitations in our understanding of the music’s history because of the relatively late period of time in which fieldworkers conducted blues research. True, we have reflections from W. C. Handy and Howard Odum that stretch back over one hundred years, but there is a huge gap in documentation of blues music. Due to the paucity of information about early twentieth century Delta blues, writers can only suggest that we need to expand our ideas about what was actually played. For example, they do reference the existence of fiddling and banjo playing in the Delta, and some of these writers suggest connections between blues and other musical forms, including old-time hoedown tunes and jug-band music. However, the writers tend to focus almost entirely on the place of the guitar in the music’s early history. Recent scholarship on black banjo, fiddle, and mandolin musical traditions has the potential to expand on this history and show deeper connections between blues and other genres and styles. Finally, it is refreshing to see the beginnings of earlier critiques of the received history of blues music. David Evans, for example, challenged the idea that the Delta was an isolated and marginal region. The focus on the network of riverboat and railroad lines coupled with major highways through the Delta is a major key for understanding the music. The writers affirm that it is not so much that the blues sprung from indigenous roots in the Delta but rather that blues music emerged within a massive network of relationships that characterize the Delta.
The essays that explore Patton’s life should be read by considering this more expansive and dynamic concept of the region. Mike Rowe provides a nuanced look at migration between the Delta and Chicago as he demonstrates how this interplay between regions has influenced the music. John Broven extends the consideration of the Delta's nexus further south. He looks at country blues in Lousiana and its surrounding regions. Broven points out problems with assuming there was a widespread culture region that incubated a distinctive style of blues, as he also demonstrates how Patton's blues have influenced Louisiana’s music. Jim O'Neal contributes to this discussion by exploring the persistence of other blues styles connected to Patton. He focuses primarily on retentions and reworkings of Delta blues in Chicago's blues scene of the 1980s. In comparing O'Neal's observations with Broven's article, it is clear that the music has been influenced both by migration from the Delta to Chicago as well as by those musicians who returned from northern cities back to the Delta.
The volume features an intriguing balance between providing updated scholarship on blues versus offering older essays from an important international conference. The burgeoning scholarship on blues over the past four decades does sometimes directly challenge the perspectives in this re-publication of 1980s scholarship. Nevertheless, what now has become historical information on the blues is particularly intriguing. Notably, the editors include an excellent reflective piece by the late bluesman Luther Allison. Futhermore, it is poignant to read of many other blues musicians who were seen as carrying on the musical heritage during the 1980s and beyond. Some of them, including Lonnie Pitchford, Jessie MaeHemphill, and R. L. Burnside, are no longer with us, but the writers also include great neotraditionalist musicians, such as Jimmy "Duck" Holmes, who continue to contribute to a vibrant resurgence of Delta and Hill Country blues. The Delta and surrounding region is now home to numerous blues festivals, many of which often feature symposia, film festivals, and blues-in-schools presentations to support a deeper understanding of the music and its history. These types of programming are mentioned in Charley Patton: Voice of the Mississippi Delta, and their persistence—and the revival of blues scenes—are all integral to initial interests in the music that clearly were evident when the University of Liège hosted this major conference over three decades ago in Belgium.
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[Review length: 1211 words • Review posted on April 22, 2019]