Junior Watson

Despite a long career spent mostly as a supporting player in underrecognized groups, Mike "Junior" Watson ranks among the most influential blues guitarists of his era. Once Robben Ford shifted toward fusion, Watson stood alongside Hollywood Fats as the leading figure on the California scene and alongside Jimmie Vaughan elsewhere in the country. Although Watson and Vaughan pursue markedly different paths, Watson’s arch-top-cheapo-through-reverb-tank tone echoes that of Hollywood Fats, as does his command of virtually every traditional electric blues idiom. Where Fats excelled at mimicry, Watson favored an unpredictable, personal approach colored by his quirky humor. He began in the early 1970s alongside harpist Gary Smith in northern California, then spent eleven years with Rod Piazza’s Mighty Flyers, originally known as the Flying Sauce Band. During that stretch he helped infuse the Chicago-styled blues ensemble—and many that followed—with a pronounced swing feel, drawing phrases from Bill Jennings, Tiny Grimes, and Billy Butler. He also performed with Charlie Musselwhite, Jimmy Rogers, Luther Tucker, and additional artists before joining the 1980s lineup of Canned Heat, remaining on the road with the group into the late 1990s.