A plantation with a documented roster
Dockery Farms is cited as a place where several foundational players worked and played, which makes it a location rather than a legend.
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Where the music was actually played
Plantations, players, and the trail markers.
The earliest of the names
Charley Patton's recordings from 1929 onward are the earliest substantial body of Delta blues on record, and they are dated and catalogued.
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A player whose career had two halves
Son House recorded in the 1930s, stopped, and was located again in the 1960s, which is why his documentation splits into two eras.
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A short catalogue and a long argument
Robert Johnson recorded 29 songs in 1936 and 1937, and almost everything else attached to his name is later invention.
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Markers that fix the geography
The Mississippi Blues Trail places documented markers at specific sites, which turns an oral history into a map.
Off DockeryEverything in this section
- A plantation with a documented rosterDockery Farms is cited as a place where several foundational players worked and played, which makes it a location rather than a legend.
- The earliest of the namesCharley Patton's recordings from 1929 onward are the earliest substantial body of Delta blues on record, and they are dated and catalogued.
- A player whose career had two halvesSon House recorded in the 1930s, stopped, and was located again in the 1960s, which is why his documentation splits into two eras.
- A short catalogue and a long argumentRobert Johnson recorded 29 songs in 1936 and 1937, and almost everything else attached to his name is later invention.
- Markers that fix the geographyThe Mississippi Blues Trail places documented markers at specific sites, which turns an oral history into a map.