Originally Posted by: AkiraI'd say that Charlie Patton was the father of the blues.

Infact, If I wanted to be a picky arse about it, i could say:

Henry Sloan -> Charlie Patton -> Son House -> Robert Johnson

Then from Robert Johnson -> Eric Clapton, and Led Zeppelin.

There was a whole bunch of Delta Blues musicians around prior to Robert Johnson... None of which ever were professionally recorded. And none of them get credit... I just always think of RJ when I think of the blues. Granted he wasn't the "first"... It's a similar situation with people giving Nirvana all the credit for being the first Grunge band... they weren't... they were just the first one to get a lot of recognition... Same thing with Sloan and Patton.