AMG Review of Founder of the Delta Blues

Cub Koda
All Music Guide

A cornerstone of any blues collection, Charley Patton is where it starts. As compilations go, Founder of the Delta Blues originally started life as a double-record set featuring all of Patton's best-known titles, and soundwise was miles above all previous versions. Its compact disc incarnation here trims the tune list to 24 tracks, but includes all the seminal tracks: "Pony Blues," "High Water Everywhere," "Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues," "A Spoonful Blues," "Shake It and Break It," and the wistful "Poor Me," which was recorded at his final session in 1934, a scant two months before he died.