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Johnny "Guitar" Watson

Johnny "Guitar" Watson

24 articles

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Larry Williams and Johnny Guitar Watson: The Two Who Weren't 'Revived'

Profile by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 3 November 1971

DESCRIBING Larry Williams as a "great unknown" might raise a few eyebrows for he had a hit with 'Bony Moronie', a rock 'n' roll classic, ...

Johnny Guitar Watson

Profile and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 14 October 1975

"Let me talk to the Lone Ranger – and pronto!" ...

European Blues and R&B Festival

Report by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 22 November 1975

TEN YEARS AGO Britain was set to become the R&B capital of the world. Between 1962 and '67 we were visited by so many legendary ...

Johnny "Guitar" Watson: Givin' the Blues a Shot

Retrospective and Interview by Cliff White, Black Music, February 1976

'I Don't Want To Be A Lone Ranger' recently hit the top ten of the U.S. soul charts and heralded yet another return for a ...

Johnny Guitar Watson: Beware The Guitar Gangster

Profile and Interview by Kevin Allen, Record Mirror, 27 March 1976

SUPERSTAR? MAYBE not. But despite a lack of any major hits, Johnny 'Guitar' Watson has long been acknowledged as a super-talent of the black American ...

Bootsy's Rubber Band a snappy little number

Report by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 1 May 1976

KEEP YOUR ears pimmed back for Bootsy's Rubber Band, a nifty little album soon to be released by WEA. ...

Johnny Guitar Watson albums

Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 24 July 1976

Vivien Goldman explains why she's been drooling over Johnny 'Guitar' Watson for the past month. ...

Johnny Guitar Watson: Ain't That A Bitch

Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 24 July 1976

JOHNNY GUITAR WATSON is one of the classiest musicians around, though you might not believe it from the packaging of his latest album. On which ...

Johnny Guitar Watson: When You're Hot You're Hot

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 17 August 1976

Johnny 'Guitar' Watson has three singles riding the current chart, but he just couldn't believe that one of them is his old duet with Larry ...

Have you seen this man? the Gangster of Love, alias the Lone Ranger, alias Johnny Guitar Watson

Interview by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 11 September 1976

Last seen: breaking into the charts with 'I Need It'. Previous convictions: playing with Frank Zappa. Former occupation: legendary R and B man; unknown composer ...

Blues-type Situation With Relative Roots: Johnny 'Guitar' Watson

Interview by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 2 October 1976

"I'M SO excited man, I don't know, Jesus Christ, everything is really so grand, the company seems to be so together and I think I'm ...

Johnny Guitar Watson: Newcastle Polytechnic

Live Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 20 November 1976

AFTER THIRTY interviews in two days Johnny Watson's throat was as raw as fresh beefsteak. So for the first two gigs of his European tour ...

Johnny Guitar Watson: Newcastle Polytechnic

Live Review by Vivien Goldman, Sounds, 20 November 1976

THE GIG at Newcastle Poly was Johnny Guitar Watson's first British date for a decade. ...

Johnny Guitar Watson: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Maureen Paton, Melody Maker, 27 November 1976

THE GUITAR HERO stakes is such an overworked concept that it seems almost poetic justice to overact it outrageously to the point of parody. Johnny ...

Rappin' With Johnny Guitar Watson

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, December 1976

HIS RECENTLY COMPLETED EUROPEAN TOUR: "It was simply the greatest tour of my life! I don't think I've ever enjoyed myself on the road as ...

Johnny "Guitar" Watson: A Real Mother (DJM DJF20505)

Review by Barry Cain, Record Mirror, 28 May 1977

AWARD NO One: the worst album cover of the year so far. Mr Watson thumbs up in Cadillac BABY CARRIAGE! and guitar sticking up with ...

Johnny Guitar Watson: A Real Mother for Ya (DJM DJLPA-7)

Review by Joe McEwen, Rolling Stone, 30 June 1977

JOHNNY GUITAR Watson has been around. Twenty years ago he recorded a frantic, B.B. King-styled blues for R.P.M.called '3 O'clock in the Morning' that helped ...

Johnny Guitar Watson and the ups and downs of success...

Report and Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 3 January 1978

Johnny has come up with 3 gold albums in little more than a year but it seems that life at the top isn't always one ...

Johnny Guitar Watson: Funk Beyond The Call Of Duty (DJM)

Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 21 January 1978

NUMBER THREE in an open-ended set of however many the market will take before the law of diminishing return starts operating. ...

Johnny Guitar Watson: Guitar Giant!

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 2 January 1979

AFTER THE comparative failure of Funk Beyond The Call Of Duty, Johnny Guitar Watson is back with a vengeance. ...

Johnny 'Guitar' Watson: What The Hell Is This ****½

Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 7 July 1979

THIS IS a real mutha for ya, from the first seconds of the title track which go for your vitals with a rivet gun of ...

Johnny Guitar Watson: Town & Country Club, London

Live Review by Mark Sinker, New Musical Express, 27 June 1987

THINK OF Peter Green, trapped in his chosen career archetype, degenerating from world-famous pop-star blues-man to dirty old tramp terrorising Richmond. The bluesman-as-outlaw-loner takes its ...

Johnny "Guitar" Watson: The life and death of a guitar-slinger

Obituary by Andy Gill, The Independent, 26 May 1996

With his fedora and his Gibson, his pimp-chic style and his flamboyant playing, Johnny "Guitar" Watson lived and died, on stage, for the blues. Andy ...

Johnny "Guitar" Watson

Retrospective by Paul Trynka, MOJO, July 1996

NOVEMBER 1995: Johnny "Guitar" Watson Is Halfway through a slick set at Oakland's Henry Kaiser Arena. He's wearing a luminously glossy white suit, trademark jewelled ...

see also Larry Williams

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