Charley Patton (born 1891?, Hinds county, Mississippi, U.S.—died April 28, 1934, Indianola, Mississippi) was a blues singer-guitarist among the earliest and most influential Mississippi blues performers. Charley spent most of his life in the Delta region of the North-Western Mississippi, from about 1900 he was often based at Dockery’s plantation. There he and other early blues performers, such as Tommy Johnson and Willie Brown, shared songs and ideas.
Charley spent most of his career playing blues and ragtime-based popular songs for dancers at rural parties and barrelhouses, where his singing and clowning made him a popular entertainer. In the nearly 70 recordings he made between 1929 and 1934, Patton sang in a gravelly, strained, sometimes unintelligible voice while providing himself with a percussive guitar accompaniment. His lyrics range from personal to topical. He also recorded some gospel songs. Perhaps his best-known recording is Pony Blues, among the first to be issued, and others such as Down the Dirt Road, Shake It and Break It, High Water Everywhere, and Moon Going Down helped secure his popularity.
As if his singing and playing wasn’t sufficient, audiences loved his showmanship, sometimes playing with his guitar down on his knees, behind his head, or behind his back. The aggressive intensity of Patton’s performances is particularly notable, a quality that influenced others such as Howlin’ Wolf, Son House, and Bukka White. Charley was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in its inaugural class (1980).