Peetie Wheatstraw

William Bunch (December 21, 1902 – December 21, 1941), known as Peetie Wheatstraw, was an American musician, an influential figure among 1930s blues singers.

William Bunch was born in Ripley, Tennessee, in 1902, the son of James Bunch and Mary (Burns) Bunch.

There is some speculation Wheatstraw may have been born in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, where he was buried, and blues musician Big Joe Williams stated that this was his hometown.

The earliest biographical facts come from the musicians Henry Townsend and Teddy Darby, who remember Wheatstraw moving to East St. Louis, Illinois, in the late 1920s.

He was already a proficient guitarist but a limited pianist.

The only known photograph of him shows him holding a National brand tricone resonator guitar, but he played the piano on most of his recordings.

He often performed at a club called Lovejoy in the East St. Louis area and at a juke joint over a barbershop on West Biddle Street.

By the time Sunnyland Slim moved to St. Louis in the early 1930s, Wheatstraw was one of the most popular singers there, with an admired idiosyncratic piano style.

Wheatstraw began recording in 1930 and was so popular that he continued to record through the Great Depression, when the number of blues records issued was drastically reduced.

The blues musician Charlie Jordan introduced Wheatstraw to recording, setting him up with both Vocalion Records and Decca Records.

He recorded "Tennessee Peaches Blues" in a duet with an artist called Neckbones, in August 1930.

Following this first recording, Wheatstraw was especially prolific, recording 21 songs in two years, including solos like "Don't Feel Welcome Blues," "Strange Man Blues," "School Days," and "So Soon".

Wheatstraw recorded 161 sides on 78-RPM records for 1930 to the end of 1941.

He made no records between March 1932 and March 1934, a period in which he perfected his mature style.

For the rest of his life, he was one of the most recorded blues singers and accompanists.

His total output of 161 recorded songs was surpassed by only four prewar blues artists: Tampa Red, Big Bill Broonzy, Lonnie Johnson and Bumble Bee Slim (Amos Easton).

In the clubs of St. Louis and East St. Louis his popularity was outstanding, rivalled only by that of Walter Davis.

Despite references to his touring, there is little evidence that he worked outside these cities, except to make records.

By the time Bunch reached St. Louis, he had discarded his name and crafted a new identity.

The name "Peetie Wheatstraw" was described by the blues scholar Paul Oliver as one that had well-rooted folk associations.

Later writers have repeated this, while reporting that many uses of the name were copied from Bunch.

Elijah Wald suggested that Bunch may have been the sole source of all uses of the name.

All but two of his records were issued under the names "Peetie Wheatstraw, the Devil's Son-in-Law" and "Peetie Wheatstraw, the High Sheriff from Hell".

He composed several "stomps" with lyrics projecting a boastful demonic persona to match these sobriquets.

His hardened attitude and egotism have given contemporary authors grounds for comparing him to modern-day rap artists.

There is some evidence that the writer Ralph Ellison knew him; Ellison used the name "Peetie Wheatstraw" and aspects of the musician's demonic persona (but no biographical facts) for a character in his novel Invisible Man.

African-American music maintains the tradition of the African "praise song", which tells of the prowess (sexual and other) of the singer.

First-person celebrations of the self provide the impetus for many of Wheatstraw's songs, and he sang changes on this theme with confidence, humour and occasional menace.

The blues singer Henry Townsend recalled that Wheatstraw's real personality was similar: "He was that kind of person. You know, a jive-type person."

The blues critic Tony Russell updated the description: "Wheatstraw constructed a macho persona that made him the spiritual ancestor of rap artists."

A compilation LP album was released by Flyright Records in 1975.

Twenty-five years later a second volume was put together by Old Tramp Records.

In 1994, Wheatstraw's complete recordings were issued on seven CDs by Document Records.

Peetie Wheatstraw: Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order:

Wheatstraw operated in a community of musicians in St. Louis and East St. Louis who knew and performed with each other.

He was also a recording star subject to the demands of record producers and the challenges of other stars.

These forces created a consistency in his instrumental styles, which later critics have found uninteresting.

Samuel Charters, in The Country Blues, dismissed Wheatstraw and other recording stars of the period as tending to "a repetitious use of clichés and a monotonous accompaniment that was as unimaginative as their singing".

Tony Russell, while much more appreciative, warned that "anybody listening to long stretches of his recordings is likely to go stir-crazy".

Against this generic style Wheatstraw had some instantly recognizable characteristics.