The roots of “Catfish” go back at least as far as Robert Petway’s 1941 version—one of only 16 songs he recorded in his lifetime. “Petway is said to be from the Yazoo City area, near Bentonia, Miss.,” says Ryan Lee Crosby, a former post-punk devotee who’s now a student of the blues in its truest form. “The greatest blues musicians from Bentonia have all recorded ‘Catfish’ and played it at the Blue Front Cafe, from Skip James to Jack Owens to Jimmy ‘Duck’ Holmes.”
Crosby learned the song from Holmes, a Grammy nominee and the proprietor of the Blue Front, the oldest surviving juke joint in Mississippi. “He showed me how to play different versions in multiple tunings,” says Crosby, who notes that the version here is but one of many. “It’s simply how it was done that afternoon—and it doesn’t sound like a typical blues at all. The sound comes from the pensive, brooding mood Jimmy creates with his playing. There’s a feeling of presence and spontaneity.”
Somewhat of a modern-day Alan Lomax, Crosby has his own penchant for spontaneity, making the drive from his home in Portsmouth, R.I., to the Blue Front with his portable Tascam 22-4 reel-to-reel tape machine buckled into the back seat of a borrowed Toyota SUV. Once there, he immersed himself in the Bentonia style, which centers around a minor-key open tuning called cross-note. It was the work of Skip James that initially won over Crosby, who developed his own take on the style using a 12-string electric guitar.
Crosby came away from the life-changing experience with At The Blue Front (Crossnote), available August 20. “Catfish” and the LP’s seven other tracks were all recorded in the same room where James often performed. “In Jimmy’s hands, the sound of that open minor tuning evokes a haunted quality, even in the daytime,” says Crosby.
We’re proud to premiere Ryan Lee Crosby’s “Catfish.”
—Hobart Rowland
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