No doubt you can find plenty of information about Charley Patton without a gloss from Whitey McPaleface over here. You don’t need a the blog of some white softy from Iowa to make sense of the Father of the Delta Blues.

Or do you?! Recently it was dear old Iowa that was hit hard by major statewide floods, so maybe this ol’ beluga whale knows more than you think!

He doesn’t. This track comes from, again, the People Take Warning collection. It’s “High Water Everywhere, Part 2” and it goes in Blytheville, AR even though it could have been placed in any one of the locations Pattons mentions given that the whole point is that there’s nowhere the singer could seek shelter and refuge. Plus it’s especially relevant to folks back in Iowa who are still digging shit – shit for real – out of living rooms and kitchens and restaurants. Ok, yes, also trailers and shanties and rusted-out Bonnevilles. But how many of those really know Charley Patton’s blues? Good question, right? It’s one thing to stare down dejectedly at your jute chenille border from Pier1 as it soaks up a cocktail of Iowa River sludge and broken bottles of shiraz; it’s another to be Charley Patton in early 20th century Arkansas.

Anyway, best of luck out there, Midwest.

MAPPING IT

A drier Blytheville than it once was.

HEARING IT

No Spotify. Copy.