Biography
Details concerning the birth date and location of this little-known American blues singer remain unknown, as do those surrounding his death, which is considered likely but unconfirmed. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, blues historian Dr. Harry Oster captured Charles performing alongside fellow inmates at Louisiana’s Angola prison. The original vinyl releases on Oster’s Louisiana Folklore Society label, later reissued by Arhoolie Records, also featured Robert Pete Williams, Hogman Maxey, Guitar Welch, and Clara Young, one of three women blues singers Oster documented at the facility. Upon CD reissue the collection gained a substantial quantity of previously unissued tracks. Delivered in Charles’s rich baritone, his selections comprised the talking blues “Strike At Camp 1,” the rugged stone-breaking hammer song “Berta,” and a deeply affecting rendition of Blind Lemon Jefferson’s 1928 “See That My Grave Is Kept Clean,” here retitled “Have You Ever Heard The Church Bells Tone.” Vanguard Records likewise put out an album drawn from Charles’s sessions in 1964.