Was it Sonny Boy Williamson who said "Those white boys want to play the blues real bad, and that's how they play them, bad"?

Yeah but Howlin' Wolf said some of those white boys could play blues better than he ever could, but none of them could SING the blues like he could.
Here is one recording that predates Charlie Patton by a couple years r i c, although I personally like Charlie's "Spoonful" much better. But I know what you mean about the lost early blues artists from before the regional labels started recording guys like Charlie and Son and Skip.
Those guys learned there craft from someone.