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{{Infobox musical artist
{{Infobox musical artist
|Name = Robert Petway
|name = Robert Petway
|Img = Robert_Petway.jpg
|image = Robert_Petway.jpg
|Img_capt = The only known photograph of Robert Petway (c. 1941)
|caption = The only known photograph of Petway (c. 1941)
|Background = solo_singer
|background = solo_singer
|Born = [[wikt:circa|c.]][1908]
|birth_date = c. 1903
|birth_place = possibly [[Itta Bena, Mississippi]], U.S.<ref name="bare"/>
|Died = Unknown
|death_date = unknown; after 1941
|Instrument = [[Vocals]]<br>[[Guitarist]]
|death_place =
⚫
|Genre = [[Blues]]<br>[[Delta Blues]]
|Label = [[Bluebird Records]]
|occupation = Musician, songwriter
|instrument = Vocals, guitar
⚫
|genre = [[Blues]], [[Delta blues]]
|label = [[Bluebird Records]]
|associated_acts = [[Tommy McClennan]]
}}
}}


'''Robert Petway''' (born c. 1903, date of death unknown)<ref name="bare"/><ref name=wirz/> was an American [[blues]] 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]], [[Muddy Waters]], and [[Jimi Hendrix]]. There is only one known picture of Petway, a publicity photo from 1941. His birth name may have been Pettyway, Pitway, Petaway, or similar.
'''Robert Petway''' was an [[African-American]] [[blues]] singer and guitarist.


==Uncertainties over birth and death==
Very little is known about Robert Petway. His birthplace is speculated to have been at or near J.F. Sligh Farm near [[Yazoo City, Mississippi]], birthplace of his close friend and fellow bluesman [[Tommy McClennan]]. His birthdate is guessed at 1908, and the date and even the occurrance of his death is unknown. There is only one known picture of Petway, a publicicty photo from 1941. He only recorded a dozen songs, but his influences, by some accounts, include [[John Lee Hooker]], [[Muddy Waters]], and [[Jimi Hendrix]].
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]], the birthplace of his close friend and fellow bluesman [[Tommy McClennan]].<ref name=rewald/> Researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc suggest that he was born a few miles away in [[Itta Bena]], [[Leflore County, Mississippi]], in about 1902.<ref name="bare">{{cite book| first1= Bob| last1= Eagle| first2= Eric S.| last2= LeBlanc| year= 2013| title= Blues - A Regional Experience| publisher= Praeger Publishers| location= Santa Barbara| pages=188, 447 | isbn= 978-0313344237}}</ref><ref name=wirz>[https://www.wirz.de/music/petwafrm.htm Stefan Wirz, Robert Petway Discography, ''wirz.de'']. Retrieved 27 December 2019</ref> Census records refer to Robert Pettyway {{sic}}, aged 7 in 1910;<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/7884/31111_4330346-00247?pid=167533470&treeid=&personid=&rc=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=sUV227&_phstart=successSource 1910 United States Federal Census for Robert Pettyway, Mississippi, Leflore, North Greenwood, District 0070, ''Ancestry.com'']</ref> and to Robert Petaway {{sic}}, farm worker aged 18 in 1920;<ref>[https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/6061/4312370-01009?pid=51111088&backurl=https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D6061%26h%3D51111088%26tid%3D%26pid%3D%26usePUB%3Dtrue%26_phsrc%3DsUV223%26_phstart%3DsuccessSource&treeid=&personid=&hintid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=sUV223&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true 1920 United States Federal Census for Robert Petaway, Mississippi, Leflore, Beat 4, District 0092, ''Ancestry.com'']</ref> 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.<ref>[https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2238&h=269366433&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=sUV232&_phstart=successSource Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010]</ref>

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.<ref name=rewald>{{cite web|author=Jason Rewald |url=https://www.americanbluesscene.com/the-disappearance-of-robert-petway-a-new-theory/ |title=The Disappearance of Robert Petway: A New Theory. |work=American Blues Scene Magazine |publisher=Americanbluesscene.com |date=2007-10-18 |access-date=2019-12-27}}</ref> However, Eagle and LeBlanc consider that that person is unlikely to be the Petway who was a musician in Mississippi in 1940.<ref name="bare"/><ref name=wirz/>

Assuming that the musician was born around 1902/03 in Mississippi, the date and cause of his death are unknown.


==Career==
==Career==
Like many bluesmen from the [[Mississippi Delta]], Petway traveled around as a musician, playing at parties, [[roadhouses]], and other venues available. Petway and McClennan often traveled and performed together. After McClennan had been in [[Chicago Blues|Chicago]] for a few years, Petway travelled north to join him and cut records.
Like many bluesmen from the [[Mississippi Delta]], Petway traveled as a musician, playing at parties, [[Roadhouse (facility)|roadhouses]], and other venues. Petway and McClennan often travelled and performed together. After McClennan had been in [[Chicago Blues|Chicago]] for a few years, Petway travelled north to join him and cut records, as did Georgia's [[Frank Edwards (blues musician)|Frank Edwards]], who had met them in Mississippi.


=="Catfish Blues"/"Rollin' Stone"==
=="Catfish Blues"==
One of Petways most influential songs is "Catfish Blues", which he recorded in 1941. Muddy Waters used the lyrics and style of "Catfish Blues" for his first single "Rollin' Stone", the song from which the rock group [[The Rolling Stones]] chose their band name. There is debate on whether Petway deserves any credit for the Muddy Waters song, mostly stemming from the fact that blues musicians often borrow lines and verses from each other and often use common symbols and phrases that can't be traced back to one source. There is even some speculation that Tommy McClennan wrote the version that Petway recorded. Max Haymes has written a well-researched article, "[http://earlyblues.com/essay_catfish.htm Catfish Blues (Origins of a Blues)]" on the topic, available at earlyblues.com. When Honeyboy Edwards, a follower of Petway, was asked if Petway wrote the song, he 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."<ref>[http://www.document-records.com/series-5000.asp?offset=-1 Document Records Catalouge]</ref>
Petway recorded the song "Catfish Blues" in 1941.<ref>{{cite book|title=Deep Blues|author=Robert Palmer|year=1981|author-link=Robert Palmer (American writer)|publisher=[[Penguin Books]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/deepblues00palm/page/104 104]|isbn=978-0-14-006223-6|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/deepblues00palm/page/104}}</ref> 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 (Muddy Waters song)|Rollin' Stone]]" (the song from which the [[The Rolling Stones|Rolling Stones]] 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]] (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."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.document-records.com/series-5000.asp?offset=-1 |title=Document Records Blues – 5000 Series |publisher=Document-records.com |access-date=2015-10-06}}</ref> 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.


===Second verse of "Catfish Blues"===
The second verse of Petway's "Catfish Blues" is as follows:
<blockquote>
⚫
What if I were a catfish, mama<br />
⚫
I said swimmin’ deep down in, deep blue sea<br />
⚫
Have these gals now, sweet mama, settin’ out,<br />
⚫
Settin’ out hooks for me, settin’ out hook for me<br />
⚫
Settin’ out hook for me, settin’ out hook for me<br />
⚫
Settin’ out hook for me, settin’ out hook for me<ref>[http://www.thedevilsmusic.net/lyrics/robert_petway.html Lyrics to "Catfish Blues" from thedevilmusic.net]</ref>
</blockquote>


⚫
{{poemquote|What if I were a catfish, mama
===First verse of "Rollin' Stone"===
⚫
I said swimmin’ deep down in, deep blue sea
<blockquote>
⚫
Have these gals now, sweet mama, settin’ out,
⚫
Well, I wish I was a catfish,<br />
⚫
Settin’ out hooks for me, settin’ out hook for me
⚫
swimmin in a oh, deep, blue sea<br />
⚫
Settin’ out hook for me, settin’ out hook for me
⚫
I would have all you good lookin women,<br />
⚫
Settin’ out hook for me, settin’ out hook for me<ref>[http://www.thedevilsmusic.net/lyrics/robert_petway.html] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050905152000/http://www.thedevilsmusic.net/lyrics/robert_petway.html |date=September 5, 2005 }}</ref>}}
⚫
fishin, fishin after me<br />
⚫
Sure 'nough, a-after me<br />
⚫
Sure 'nough, a-after me<br />
⚫
Oh 'nough, oh 'nough, sure 'nough <ref>[http://www.thedevilsmusic.net/lyrics/muddy_waters.html#Rollin_Stone Lyrics to "Rollin' Stone" from thedevilmusic.net]</ref>
</blockquote>


The first verse of Muddy Waters's "Rollin' Stone" has similar lyrics:
⚫
==Death/Disappearance==

⚫
There is no record, official or unofficial, of Petway's death. He may in fact still be alive. The last record of his public life is a quote from Honeyboy Edwards: "nobody I know heard what become of him."<ref name = "liner">[http://www.document-records.com/fulldetails.asp?ProdID=DOCD-5671 Liner notes for Catfish Blues: Mississippi Blues, Vol. 3 (1936-1942)]</ref>
⚫
{{poemquote|Well, I wish I was a catfish,
⚫
swimmin in {{not a typo|a}} oh, deep, blue sea
⚫
I would have all you good lookin women,
⚫
fishin, fishin after me
⚫
Sure 'nough, a-after me
⚫
Sure 'nough, a-after me
⚫
Oh 'nough, oh 'nough, sure 'nough <ref>[http://www.thedevilsmusic.net/lyrics/muddy_waters.html#Rollin_Stone] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050905132551/http://www.thedevilsmusic.net/lyrics/muddy_waters.html#Rollin_Stone |date=September 5, 2005 }}</ref>}}

⚫
==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."<ref name = "liner">{{cite web|url=http://www.document-records.com/fulldetails.asp?ProdID=DOCD-5671 |title=Mississippi Blues Vol. 3 Complete Recordings of Robert Petway, Mississippi Matilda, Sonny Boy Nelson – Document Records Vintage Blues and Jazz |publisher=Document-records.com |access-date=2015-10-06}}</ref> 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==
==Discography==
Petway only recorded two sessions<ref name = "liner">liner notes</ref><ref>[http://www.wirz.de/music/petwafrm.htm Illustrated Robert Petway discography]</ref> , both for [[Bluebird Records]] in [[Chicago]].
Petway only recorded two sessions,<ref name = "liner"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wirz.de/music/petwafrm.htm |title=Robert Petway discography |publisher=Wirz.de |access-date=2015-10-06}}</ref> both for [[Bluebird Records]] in [[Chicago]].

===Original 78's (in chronological order)===
===Original 78s (in chronological order)===
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|-
|bgcolor='#FFDEAD' colspan='2' align='left'|'''First Session, Recorded on March 28, 1941 '''
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffdead; text-align:left;"|'''First session, recorded on March 28, 1941'''
|-
|-
! Catalouge #
! Catalogue #
! Title
! Title
⚫
|-
|-
|-
|Bluebird B8726
|Bluebird B8726
|"Rockin' Chair Blues/Let Me Be Your Boss"
|"Rockin' Chair Blues" / "Let Me Be Your Boss"
|-
|-
|Bluebird B8756
|Bluebird B8756
|"Sleepy Woman Blues/Don't Go Down Baby"
|"Sleepy Woman Blues" / "Don't Go Down Baby"
|-
|-
|Bluebird B8786
|Bluebird B8786
|"My Little Girl/Left My Baby Crying"
|"My Little Girl" / "Left My Baby Crying"
|-
|-
|Bluebird B8838
|Bluebird B8838
|"Catfish Blues/Ride 'Em On Down"
|"Catfish Blues" / "[[Shake 'Em on Down|Ride 'Em on Down]]"
|-
|-
⚫
| colspan="2" style="background:#ffdead; text-align:left;"|'''Second session, recorded on February 20, 1942'''
⚫
|Bluebird B8987
⚫
|"Boogie Woogie Woman/Hollow Log Blues"
|-
⚫
|bgcolor='#FFDEAD' colspan='2' align='left'|'''Second Session, Recorded on February 20, 1942 '''
|-
|-
! Catalouge #
! Catalogue #
! Title
! Title
⚫
|-
⚫
|Bluebird B8987
⚫
|"Boogie Woogie Woman" / "Hollow Log Blues"
|-
|-
|Bluebird B9008
|Bluebird B9008
|"Bertha Lee Blues/In The Evening"
|"Bertha Lee Blues" / "In the Evening"
|-
|-
|Bluebird B9036
|Bluebird B9036
|"My Baby Left Me/Cotton Pickin' Blues"
|"My Baby Left Me" / "Cotton Pickin' Blues"
|-
|-
|Bluebird unissued
|Bluebird unissued
|"Hard Working Woman/Ar'nt Nobody's Fool"
|"Hard Working Woman" / "Ar'nt Nobody's Fool"
|}
|}


==References==
==References==
{{Reflist}}
<references/>



==External Links==
==External links==
* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:2j867uu0o0jh~T0 Robert Petway] at [[Allmusic.com]]
* [{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p371942|pure_url=yes}} Robert Petway] at [[Allmusic]]
* [http://earlyblues.com/essay_catfish.htm Catfish Blues (Origins of a Blues) By Max Haymes]
* [http://earlyblues.com/essay_catfish.htm Catfish Blues (Origins of a Blues) By Max Haymes]


{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Petway, Robert}}
{{Blues}}
[[Category:1908 births|Petway, Robert]]
[[Category:1900s births]]
[[Category:African American musicians|Petway, Robert]]
[[Category:Year of death unknown]]
[[Category:American blues singers|Petway, Robert]]
[[Category:American blues singers]]
[[Category:American guitarists|Petway, Robert]]
[[Category:Blues musicians from Mississippi]]
[[Category:American male singers|Petway, Robert]]
[[Category:Songwriters from Mississippi]]
[[Category:Blues musicians from Mississippi|Petway, Robert]]
[[Category:Bluebird Records artists]]
[[Category:Blues guitarists|Petway, Robert]]
[[Category:People from Wilcox County, Alabama]]
[[Category:People from Chicago|Petway, Robert]]
[[Category:American blues guitarists]]
[[Category:People from Yazoo City, Mississippi|Petway, Robert]]
[[Category:American male guitarists]]
[[Category:Singers from Chicago]]
[[Category:People from Yazoo City, Mississippi]]
[[Category:People from Yazoo County, Mississippi]]
[[Category:20th-century American guitarists]]
[[Category:Songwriters from Illinois]]
[[Category:Songwriters from Alabama]]
[[Category:Guitarists from Alabama]]
[[Category:Guitarists from Chicago]]
[[Category:Guitarists from Mississippi]]
[[Category:Delta blues musicians]]
[[Category:African-American male songwriters]]
[[Category:African-American guitarists]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American male singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American male singers]]
[[Category:20th-century American singers]]

Latest revision as of 11:42, 29 September 2024

Robert Petway
The only known photograph of Petway (c. 1941)
The only known photograph of Petway (c. 1941)
Background information
Bornc. 1903
possibly Itta Bena, Mississippi, U.S.[1]
Diedunknown; after 1941
GenresBlues, Delta blues
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter
Instrument(s)Vocals, guitar
LabelsBluebird Records

Robert Petway (born c. 1903, date of death unknown)[1][2] was an American blues 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, Muddy Waters, and Jimi Hendrix. 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

[edit]

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, the birthplace of his close friend and fellow bluesman Tommy McClennan.[3] Researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc suggest that he was born a few miles away in Itta Bena, Leflore County, Mississippi, in about 1902.[1][2] Census records refer to Robert Pettyway [sic], aged 7 in 1910;[4] and to Robert Petaway [sic], farm worker aged 18 in 1920;[5] 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.[6]

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.[3] However, Eagle and LeBlanc consider that that person is unlikely to be the Petway who was a musician in Mississippi in 1940.[1][2]

Assuming that the musician was born around 1902/03 in Mississippi, the date and cause of his death are unknown.

Career

[edit]

Like many bluesmen from the Mississippi Delta, 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 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"

[edit]

Petway recorded the song "Catfish Blues" in 1941.[7] 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 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 (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."[8] 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:

What if I were a catfish, mama
I said swimmin’ deep down in, deep blue sea
Have these gals now, sweet mama, settin’ out,
Settin’ out hooks for me, settin’ out hook for me
Settin’ out hook for me, settin’ out hook for me
Settin’ out hook for me, settin’ out hook for me[9]

The first verse of Muddy Waters's "Rollin' Stone" has similar lyrics:

Well, I wish I was a catfish,
swimmin in a oh, deep, blue sea
I would have all you good lookin women,
fishin, fishin after me
Sure 'nough, a-after me
Sure 'nough, a-after me
Oh 'nough, oh 'nough, sure 'nough [10]

Disappearance and death

[edit]

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."[11] 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

[edit]

Petway only recorded two sessions,[11][12] both for Bluebird Records in Chicago.

Original 78s (in chronological order)

[edit]
First session, recorded on March 28, 1941
Catalogue # Title
Bluebird B8726 "Rockin' Chair Blues" / "Let Me Be Your Boss"
Bluebird B8756 "Sleepy Woman Blues" / "Don't Go Down Baby"
Bluebird B8786 "My Little Girl" / "Left My Baby Crying"
Bluebird B8838 "Catfish Blues" / "Ride 'Em on Down"
Second session, recorded on February 20, 1942
Catalogue # Title
Bluebird B8987 "Boogie Woogie Woman" / "Hollow Log Blues"
Bluebird B9008 "Bertha Lee Blues" / "In the Evening"
Bluebird B9036 "My Baby Left Me" / "Cotton Pickin' Blues"
Bluebird unissued "Hard Working Woman" / "Ar'nt Nobody's Fool"

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d Eagle, Bob; LeBlanc, Eric S. (2013). Blues - A Regional Experience. Santa Barbara: Praeger Publishers. pp. 188, 447. ISBN 978-0313344237.
  2. ^ a b c Stefan Wirz, Robert Petway Discography, wirz.de. Retrieved 27 December 2019
  3. ^ a b Jason Rewald (2007-10-18). "The Disappearance of Robert Petway: A New Theory". American Blues Scene Magazine. Americanbluesscene.com. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
  4. ^ 1910 United States Federal Census for Robert Pettyway, Mississippi, Leflore, North Greenwood, District 0070, Ancestry.com
  5. ^ 1920 United States Federal Census for Robert Petaway, Mississippi, Leflore, Beat 4, District 0092, Ancestry.com
  6. ^ Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010
  7. ^ Robert Palmer (1981). Deep Blues. Penguin Books. p. 104. ISBN 978-0-14-006223-6.
  8. ^ "Document Records Blues – 5000 Series". Document-records.com. Retrieved 2015-10-06.
  9. ^ [1] Archived September 5, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ [2] Archived September 5, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ a b "Mississippi Blues Vol. 3 Complete Recordings of Robert Petway, Mississippi Matilda, Sonny Boy Nelson – Document Records Vintage Blues and Jazz". Document-records.com. Retrieved 2015-10-06.
  12. ^ "Robert Petway discography". Wirz.de. Retrieved 2015-10-06.
[edit]
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