Robert Petway
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Robert Petway (born c. 1903, date of death unknown) was an American
blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...
singer and guitarist. He recorded only 16 songs, but it has been said that he was an influence on many notable blues and rock musicians, including
John Lee Hooker John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1912 or 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. The son of a sharecropper, he rose to prominence performing an electric guitar-style adaptation of Delta blues that he develo ...
,
Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913April 30, 1983), better known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer-songwriter and musician who was an important figure in the post-World War II blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of moder ...
, and
Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...
. There is only one known picture of Petway, a publicity photo from 1941. His birth name may have been Pettyway, Pitway, Petaway, or similar.


Uncertainties over birth and death

Little is definitively known about Petway. It has been speculated that he was born at or near the J.F. Sligh Farm, near
Yazoo City, Mississippi Yazoo City is the county seat of Yazoo County, Mississippi, Yazoo County, Mississippi, United States. It was named after the Yazoo River, which, in turn was named by the French explorer Robert La Salle in 1682 as "Rivière des Yazous" in referen ...
, the birthplace of his close friend and fellow bluesman
Tommy McClennan Tommy McClennan (January 4, 1905 – May 9, 1961) was an American Delta blues singer and guitarist. Life and career McClennan was born in Durant, Mississippi, and grew up in the town. He played and sang blues in a rough, energetic style. ...
. Researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc suggest that he was born a few miles away in Itta Bena,
Leflore County, Mississippi Leflore County is a county located in the U.S. state of Mississippi. As of the 2020 census, the population was 28,339. The county seat is Greenwood. The county is named for Choctaw leader Greenwood LeFlore, who signed a treaty to cede his pe ...
, in about 1902. Stefan Wirz, Robert Petway Discography, ''wirz.de''
Retrieved 27 December 2019
Census records refer to Robert Pettyway , aged 7 in 1910; and to Robert Petaway , farm worker aged 18 in 1920; both in Leflore County. On February 16, 1942, four days before Robert Petway's second recording session in Chicago, a "Robert Pitway" of Benton, Mississippi registered for the US Draft in Yazoo City, stating his birthplace as Sunflower, Mississippi in 1903. Also registered in Yazoo City on the same day was "Tom McClinnan" of Benton, Mississippi. Both men were employed at the same firm, Williams & Applewhite. Alternatively, research by Jason Rewald has suggested that Petway may have been born at Gee's Bend, Alabama, in 1907, married in Chicago and died there in 1978. However, Eagle and LeBlanc consider that that person is unlikely to be the Petway who was a musician in Mississippi in 1940. Assuming that the musician was born around 1902/03 in Mississippi, the date and cause of his death are unknown.


Career

Like many bluesmen from the
Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazo ...
, Petway traveled as a musician, playing at parties, roadhouses, and other venues. Petway and McClennan often travelled and performed together. After McClennan had been in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
for a few years, Petway travelled north to join him and cut records, as did Georgia's Frank Edwards, who had met them in Mississippi.


"Catfish Blues"

Petway recorded the song "Catfish Blues" in 1941. Among many other musicians who played variations of the song, Muddy Waters used the arrangement and lyrics of "Catfish Blues" for his song " Rollin' Stone" (the song from which the
Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
took their name). The composition credit given to Petway is based entirely on the recording date of his version of the song, but it cannot establish that his version was the original and the source of later versions. There is speculation that Tommy McClennan wrote the song, as he himself recorded it as "Deep Blues Sea".
David "Honeyboy" Edwards David "Honeyboy" Edwards (June 28, 1915 – August 29, 2011) was an American delta blues guitarist and singer from Mississippi. Biography Edwards was born in Shaw, Mississippi.
(a follower of Petway's), asked if Petway wrote the song, replied, "He just made that song up and used to play it at them old country dances. He just made it up and kept it in his head." In his autobiography, Edwards also remembered the Delta blues guitarist Tom Toy, from Leland, Mississippi, who apparently was well known locally for his version of "Catfish Blues". Toy never recorded. The second verse of Petway's "Catfish Blues" is as follows: The first verse of Muddy Waters's "Rollin' Stone" has similar lyrics:


Disappearance and death

There is no record, official or unofficial, of Petway's death. The last record of his public life is a quote from Honeyboy Edwards: "nobody I know heard what become of him." In his autobiography, Edwards stated that he had heard that Petway may have moved to Chicago, where Edwards himself lived, but that he never met him there.


Discography

Petway only recorded two sessions, both for
Bluebird Records Bluebird Records is an American record label best known for its low-cost releases, primarily of children's music, blues, jazz and swing in the 1930s and 1940s. Bluebird was founded in 1932 as a lower-priced subsidiary label of RCA Victor. Bluebi ...
in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
.


Original 78s (in chronological order)


References


External links

* Robert Petwayat
Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

Catfish Blues (Origins of a Blues) By Max Haymes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petway, Robert 1900s births Year of death unknown American blues singers Blues musicians from Mississippi Songwriters from Mississippi Bluebird Records artists People from Wilcox County, Alabama American blues guitarists American male guitarists Singers from Chicago People from Yazoo City, Mississippi People from Yazoo County, Mississippi 20th-century American guitarists Songwriters from Illinois Songwriters from Alabama Guitarists from Alabama Guitarists from Chicago Guitarists from Mississippi Delta blues musicians African-American male songwriters African-American guitarists 20th-century African-American male singers 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singers