I have an eighth of Robert Petway's back catalogue on 1000 Songs.

That sounds like a lot, until you realise he only recorded 16 tracks in total.

My choices are "Catfish Blues" and "Bertha Lee Blues."

I won't pretend I didn't hear "Catfish Blues" first by Jimi Hendrix, but I’m grateful for his guiding light. His guiding sound. His sonic navigation. His sonar.

Jimi Hendrix Sonar.

That sonar led me straight to Petway’s original, which,in my view, is even better. I love the raw, gravelly voice and the twangy, biting acoustic guitar.

Catfish Blues by Robert Petway

The song famously kicks off with the surreal, iconic image of wishing to be a catfish swimming in the deep blue sea so women would go fishing for him, before transitioning into raw laments about poverty, hunger, and heartbreak. Er yeah.

It even features a rare, pre-war fade-out. In turn, it served as the blueprint for Muddy Waters' 1950 classic "Rollin' Stone", the song that ultimately inspired the name of both Rolling Stone magazine and the legendary rock band.

"Bertha Lee Blues" offers a compelling contrast. It's got the energy of rural blues just before it was going to electrified into urban blues.

Bertha Lee Blues by Robert Petway

Absolutely love both of these. Petway disappears never to be found again in the records!