Johnny Guitar Watson turned 84 yesterday. He was a huge influence on many up-and-coming artists such as the Vaughan brothers, Jimi, Steve Miller and Frank Zappa, to name a few. And he could play every instrument in the band. It's a shame he passed away so young.
Dr. Johnston's annual Valentine's Day HART Fund bash is next week. This is a don't miss show featuring a long line of A-list players who donate their time to help raise funds for a great cause. BE THERE!!
Congratulations to Joe Kopicki and Cros for their stellar performances at this year's IBC. The guys came back with positive stories about their experience and the people they met in Memphis. Time to get ready for next year.
On Friday Eric Ramsey joins Smokestack Lightning for a nice show in Scottsdale. If you know these guys you know what you're in for. Big fun!
Winter time has reared its ugly head for the next couple of days. Perfect weather to hug somebody.
Make it a good week!!
Sincerely,
Jim Crawford - PBS
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 Johnny Guitar by JD Nash On February 3rd, Johnny "Guitar" Watson would have been 84 years old. A master of the guitar, and several other instruments, Watson re-invented himself, more than once, during his career. In doing so, he amassed a number of awards and inductions, including a spot in the Blues Hall of Fame. Today, we offer 10 things you may not know about the "Gangster of Love." 1. John Watson, Jr. was born in Houston, Texas on February 3rd, 1935. His father was a pianist, and taught him that instrument as a child. His grandfather, a preacher, played guitar and promised to give the youngster one of his own, as long as he didn't play the "devil's music." Inspired by the showmanship of T-Bone Walker, and the style of Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Young John Watson, as he was known as the time, was playing with Texas blues greats, Albert Collins, and Johnny Copeland before his 15th birthday. 2. After his parents separated, Watson moved, with his mother, to Los Angeles, in 1950. It wasn't long before he was making a name for himself in the City of Angels. He first recorded with Chuck Higgins' band in 1952, playing piano and providing the vocals. Watson had said, "Wardell Gray, Dexter Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Count Basie and Illinois Jacquet, they were all playing around, and jazz and blues were all mixed up." The next year he cut his own first record, on the Federal label. It was 1954, however, when things really began taking off. He picked up his six string and recorded the staggering instrumental, "Space Guitar." Without using a pick, Watson had recorded one of the most savage guitar works of its time. It helped pioneer guitar feedback and reverb, and it took famed rock guitarists, such as Jimi Hendrix, almost a generation to catch up. 3. Staying in the blues realm, Watson's first charting single was a perfect cover of Earl King's, "Those Lonely, Lonely Nights," in 1955. The previous year, he had seen the western movie, Johnny Guitar, starring Joan Crawford and Sterling Hayden. Whether it was just the name, or the character of a reformed gunslinger, the moniker, Johnny "Guitar" Watson was born. It was the stage name he used for the remainder of his career. 4. In 1957, he first released his song, "Gangster of Love," on the Keen label. It would eventually become his most popular song, but not until it was re-released in 1962 for King Records, and then again, in 1978. One person who really took a shine to the song was Steve Miller. Miller covered the song on his 1968 album, Sailor, but also referenced it in 1969 on "Space Cowboy," and, again in 1973 on, "The Joker." In 1971, Miller released the album, Rock Love, and the first track was titled, "The Gangster is Back." Four years later, Watson released his own album, The Gangster is Back. A sure case of art imitating art. 5. Johnny was an in demand sideman and touring partner. He and friend, Larry Williams, both toured and cut two albums together. Watson also worked with Little Richard, Don and Dewey, The Olympics, Johnny Otis, and Frank Zappa. Zappa credited Johnny's 1956 song, "Three Hours Past Midnight," as inspiring him to play guitar. He also had Watson appear on four different records of his, including, One Size Fits All, his last studio album with the Mothers of Invention. 6. With R&B and blues music fading behind the glaring disco and funk of the 1970s, Watson re-invented himself, and his music, to fit in. Dressing in the style of a pimp, complete with bell-bottom suits, platform shoes, gold teeth, oversized fedoras, and Elton John like shades, his Texas blues melded into bass heavy funk. He signed with DJM Records and released Ain't That a Bitch in 1976, and, A Real Mother for Ya, the following year. Watson was on the cutting edge of the funk movement, influencing artists such as Sly Stone, and George Clinton. It was Watson's catchphrase, "bow wow wow yippi-yo yippi-yay," that Clinton used in his final hit with Parliament-Funkadelic, "Atomic Dog." His stylized version was then used by Snoop Dogg, Bow Wow, and several other rap stars. In fact, Watson's music has been heavily sampled by hip-hop artists including Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, Redman, Mary J. Blige, and dozens more. 7. Johnny "Guitar" Watson, as we've pointed out, played guitar and piano. However, a talented composer, producer, and master musician, he also contributed drums, keyboards, bass, and saxophone to several of his own records. Most of these were on his gold-record releases while with DJM. On tour, he traveled with a six-piece band, which included a horn section, known as, The Watsonian Institute. 8. In the early 1980s, following the suicide of his long time friend, and band mate, Larry Williams, Watson seemed to change. His US appearances were fewer and further between, yet he still successfully toured Europe and Japan. After his charting single, "Strike on Computers," in 1984, a decade went by before the charts saw him again. Although he contributed guitar to Dr. Dre's Grammy winning, "Let Me Ride," in 93, Watson's next charting song was, "Bow Wow," in 1994. 9. On May 17th, 1996, during a tour of Japan with James Cotton, and Ukadan, Watson stepped on stage for the very last time. At around 7:40 that evening, Johnny was performing his first song of the night, his 1976 hit, "Superman Lover," at the Ocean Boulevard Blues Cafe in Yokohama. After singing the first verse, he made a gesture like pushing the microphone stand towards the audience with his hand on his chest and fell down on his back. Suffering a heart attack on stage, he was pronounced dead, at a nearby hospital, less than two hours later. Two days afterward, at a break in the show, one of Watson's band mates told the audience, "Johnny once said that if he were to die, he wanted to die on stage." His body was flown back to the US for burial at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in Glendale, California. 10. Watson's influence was extensive. Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan both had him at the top of a very selective list of artists they idolized. He had a major impact on Hendrix, Miller, and Zappa. Soul artist, Bobby Womack, called Watson, "the most dangerous gunslinger out there." It was blues, R&B, and soul diva, Etta James, who may have loved him most. James toured with Watson and Johnny Otis in the 1950s, when she was just getting started. She adopted his ballad singing style when she was about 17. In her words, "They call Elvis the King; but the sure-enough King was Johnny 'Guitar' Watson."
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| Out & About
Tuesday, February 4 Sugar Thieves, 8:30 p.m., Kazimierz, Scottsdale Wednesday, February 5 Hans Olson, 7 p.m., Time Out Lounge, Tempe February February Chuck Hall, 6 p.m., Corrado's, Carefree Thursday, February 6 Rocket 88s, 8 p.m., Rhythm Room, Phoenix
Sugar Thieves Duo, 6 p.m., Culinary Dropout, Gilbert
Blues Review Band, 4 p.m., Sun Flower RV Resort, Surprise
Mike Eldred, 6 p.m., Mountain Shadows Resort, Paradise Valley Eric Ramsey Hosts OPEN MIC, 6 p.m., Fatso's Pizza, Phoenix Hans Olson EVERY THURSDAY, 6 p.m., Handlebar, Apache Junction Arizona Blues Project, 8 p.m., Harold's, Cave Creek Friday, February 7 44s/Kid Ramos (Johnny's B-day Bash), 8 p.m., Rhythm Room, Phoenix Smokestack Lightning w/Eric Ramsey, 8:30 p.m., Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, Scottsdale Rocket 88s, 7 p.m., Opa Life Greek Café, Tempe Chuck Hall, 10 a.m., Waterfront Fine Arts & Wine Festival, Scottsdale Big Pete Pearson blues Band, 7 p.m., Desert Botanical Gardens, Phoenix Walkin' Cane Mark, 8 p.m., Old Brass Rail, Phoenix Innocent Joe & The Hostile Witnesses, 6:30 p.m., West Alley BBQ, Chandler Sugar Thieves, 7:30 p.m., Janey's, Cave Creek Hoodoo Casters, 7 p.m., Rags, Youngtown Blues Review Band, 8 p.m., All American, Fountain Hills Paris James, 6:30 p.m., August Ranch, Mesa Saturday, February 8 Fred Eaglesmith, (Early Show) 6 p.m., Rhythm Room, Phoenix Voodoo Swing, 9 p.m., Rhythm Room, Phoenix Cold Shott & The Hurricane Horns, 7 p.m., Loud IX (Tempe History Museum), Tempe Chuck Hall, 10 a.m., Waterfront Fine Arts & Wine Festival, Scottsdale Blues Review Band, 6 p.m., Voodoo Daddy's, Tempe Tres Amigos w/Innocent Joe, 7 p.m., Peaks & Valleys Restaurant, Phoenix JC & The Rockers, 6:30 p.m., West Alley BBQ, Chandler Sunday, February 9 Chuck Hall, 10 a.m., Waterfront Fine Arts & Wine Festival, Scottsdale True Flavor Blues, NOON , Copper Star, Phoenix Monday, February 10
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| Jams
Rocket 88s JAM (OFF THIS WEEK), 4 p.m., Chopper John's, Phoenix
Bourbon Jack's JAM w/Kody Herring, 6 p.m., Chandler
The Scott O'Neal Band JAM every other Sunday, The Windsock, Prescott MONDAY
Bam Bam & Badness Open JAM, 9 p.m., Char's, Phoenix
Weatherford Hotel JAM, 6:30 p.m., Flagstaff
TUESDAY
OPEN JAM Hosted by Jilly Bean & The Flipside Blues Band, 7 p.m., Steel Horse Saloon, Phoenix
JAM Sir Harrison, 9 p.m., Char's, Phoenix
Gypsy's Bluesday Night JAM, 7 p.m. Pho Cao, Tempe
Tailgaters JAM, 7 p.m., Glendale
WEDNESDAY Rocket 88s, JAM, 6 p.m., The Last Stop (Old Hideaway West), Phoenix
Tool Shed JAM Party, 6 p.m. Gabby's, Mesa
JAM @ The Bench, Hosted by BluZone, 7 p.m., The Bench, Tempe
THURSDAY Tool Shed JAM Party, 7 p.m., Steel Horse Saloon, Phoenix Jolie's Place JAM w/Adrenaline, 9 p.m., Chandler
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| GOT BLUES? If you are a Blues musician, a group, or a club that features Blues music, and would like to be listed, please send your info to [email protected] and we'll be happy to list your event in our weekly Out & About section of the newsletter
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Moved? Changed email addresses? Please let us know of any changes in your address, email, or phone number so we can keep you informed about the Blues community in Arizona. or write to: Phoenix Blues Society P.O. Box 36874 Phoenix, Arizona 85067 |
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