Pony Blues

During his very first recording session in June 1929, Charley Patton introduced the world to "Pony Blues," a song he had been playing around the Mississippi Delta since he was nineteen. Patton furiously hammered out a heavy, bouncing rhythm on his acoustic guitar, shouting his lyrics with a gravelly, overpowering voice designed to carry across a noisy juke joint. The record was an important early Paramount release, officially launching Patton's recording career and establishing this complex, heavily percussive guitar style as the gold standard of the Mississippi Delta blues.