Johnny Guitar Watson - Essential Works 1953-1962

Diggers Factory

£28.78

Format: 2 x LP
Catalogue No.: MOR908
Barcode: 3760300319956
Release Date: 13 Jan 2023
Genre: Funk

A singer/guitarist known for two essential albums in the funk sphere – Ain’t That a Bitch and A Real Mother For You – Johnny Watson was first of all a highly respected bluesman with close ties to the R&B scene of the Fifties. When Johnny Watson’s grandfather died, he left his grandson a guitar, but Grandma insisted that Johnny shouldn’t ever play “the devil’s music” – the blues – on such a “holy” instrument that had accompanied so many gospels… Johnny at once thought about nothing else. In Los Angeles he would spend the Fifties under the influence of Amos Milburn and Chuck Higgins, with whom he played for a time before creating his own group to trawl through every club in the city. “I was doing things like Jimi Hendrix, fifteen years before [him] playing guitar with my teeth, hanging from the rafters and doing double gigs with Guitar Slim … we used to work together in clubs with 30 foot guitarleads, sit on each others shoulders and walk out into the audience”. Johnny “Guitar” Watson’s shows left an indelible mark. He gave each period in his career a personal stamp that made him an original character: he marked every style he played in, whether it was blues, R&B or funk. The first two styles appear on all four sides of this album, leaving the funk for Ain’t That a Bitch and A Real Mother For You.

TRACKLISTING
Side A
A1. Highway 60
A2. No I Can't
A3. Motorhead baby
A4. I Got Eyes
A5. What's Going On
A6. Thinking
A7. Half Pint of Whiskey

Side B
B1. Space Guitar
B2. Getting Drunk
B3. Hot Little Mama
B4. Don't Touch Me
B5. Three Hours Past Midnight
B6. Love Me Baby
B7. She Moves Me

Side C
C1. Gangster of Love
C2. One Room Country Shack
C3. Deana Baby
C4. The Bear
C5. One More Kiss
C6. Johnny Guitar
C7. Untouchable

Side D
D1. Sweet Lovin' Mama
D2. I Just Wants Me Some Love
D3. Cuttin' In
D4. Broke and Lonely
D5. Posin'
D6. The Eagle is Back
D7. Looking Back