Robert Petway was an African-American blues singer and guitarist.
Background
lieutenant 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 However, recent research suggests that Petway may have been born at Gee"s Bend, Alabama. According to his Social Security registration, he was born in 1907, though some other sources suggest 1902.
Career
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. Little is known about Robert Petway.
His name at birth may have been spelled Pettway or Pettiway.
The exact date and cause of his death are unknown. 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 met them in Mississippi.
Petway recorded his song in 1941.
Amongst many other reworked versions, Muddy Waters used the arrangement and lyrics of for his single "Rollin" Stone", the song from which the Rolling Stones took their name. The composition cr given to Petway is based entirely on the recording date of his version of the song. However, it would be impossible to establish that song as the conclusive and original source.
There is speculation that Tommy McClennan wrote the song, as he himself recorded it as "Deep Blues Sea".
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 Toy never recorded. Second verse of
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
First verse of "Rollin" Stone"
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
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." Blues researcher Jason Rewald has suggested, on the basis of Social Security records, that Petway may in fact have been born in Gee"s Bend, Alabama, on October 18, 1907, and died in Chicago on May 30, 1978. 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.