Catfish Blues

Robert Petway recorded Catfish Blues in Chicago on March 28 1941 for Bluebird, singing and playing guitar in a small country-blues setting. The session was supervised by Lester Melrose during Petways brief recorded career. Released by Bluebird in 1941, Catfish Blues became Robert Petways best known record. Its floating verses and catfish imagery entered the blues repertory and supplied a source for later electric blues versions. Catfish Blues became a blues standard through later recordings and adaptations by Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, and other performers. Petways version remains the key early recorded source for the songs modern history.