Moon Going Down

Charley Patton traveled to Paramount's studio in Grafton in the spring of 1930, but this time he didn't come alone. He brought his friend and frequent playing partner, Willie Brown. On "Moon Going Down," you can hear the two men sitting together, their acoustic guitars locking into a hypnotic, polyrhythmic groove. This complex, interlocking style was the signature sound of the musicians circling the Dockery Plantation. Brown's heavy, driving bass lines perfectly anchored Patton's rhythmic snapping, capturing the quintessential sound of a Mississippi house party right before the Great Depression devastated the record industry.