The singer-guitarist of two essential funk albums, Ain't That a Bitch and A Real Mother For You, is first and foremost a respected bluesman who followed the entire journey of the 1950s R&B scene. When Johnny Watson receives his recently deceased grandfather's guitar, his grandmother insists that he never play the blues – the devil's music – on this "holy" guitar that accompanied all the gospel songs. Young Johnny, however, only wanted to play the blues. In Los Angeles, he went through the 1950s under the influence of Amos Milburn and Chuck Higgins, with whom he played for a while before forming his own band to tour the clubs of LA: "I was doing Jimi Hendrix's stuff, 15 years before... we played two sets with Guitar Slim... we played in the hall with our guitars plugged in with thirty feet of wire... we'd sit on each other's shoulders and play through the audience...". Johnny Guitar Watson's performances left a memorable mark. He managed to give a personal character to each period of his career; he is above all an original personality who left his mark on each of the styles he explored: blues, R&B, and funk. The first two sides of this album illustrate the former, while Ain't That a Bitch and A Real Mother For You illustrate the latter.
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