In classic postmodern fashion, Snoop Dogg and
Dr. Dre borrowed P-Funk’s adaptation of Watson’s
catchphrase “Bow Wow Wow yippi-yo yippi-yay”
for Snoop’s hit “What’s My Name.”
Known for flamboyant picking, Watson moved
from his early ‘50s Fender Strat to playing Gibsons,
including the ES- 125, Explorer, ES-335, ES-347,
and SGs. Photo by Klaus Hiltscher/Affendaddy
respectably but failed to go gold despite solid
tunes and a classic Watson solo on “Barn
Door.” For “It’s a Damn Shame,” he even
sang along with his solo—long before the
world at large had heard of George Benson.
Next came Giant, which was ostensibly
geared to the European market. It was all
over the map: Disco tunes like “Tu Jours
Amour” [sic] and “Guitar Disco” butt
up against yet another rocking remake of
“Gangster of Love” and a cover of War’s
“Baby Face (She Said Do Do DoDo),”
while “Miss Frisco (Queen of the Disco)”
was a fantastic funk-guitar workout.
Love Jones from 1980 is remembered
largely for “Telephone Bill,” a spoken-word
tune that is considered to have “anticipated”
rap. “Anticipated? I damn well invented it!”
Watson claimed to interviewer David Ritz in a
1994 interview in the liner notes to The Funk
Anthology. Guitarists may be less interested in
that than in the terrific, bebop-infused licks in
Watson’s outro solo—which includes a quote
of Dizzy Gillespie’s “Salt Peanuts.”
On his next effort, Johnny “Guitar”
Watson and the Family Clone, the guitar-
ist pays tribute to Sly Stone only in that
he plays every instrument. The good
news is that his tone is a warm and natu-
ral improvement over the previous two
records, which were effects heavy, and “Rio
Dreamin’” features a rare jazzy acoustic
solo. The bad news is that DJM had run
out of promotion money, so it was time for
Watson to move on. A guest guitar spot on
Herb Alpert’s Beyond record in 1980 led to
a deal with Alpert’s A&M records, and the
first release, That’s What Time It Is, was the
first record in many years that Watson had
not produced himself. The result was mini-
mal guitar, and what there was reverted to
the thin, direct sound of Love Jones.
The Final Bow
By 1994, Watson had gotten rid of the
“wrong people” referenced in Van Gelder’s
obit, and he cleaned himself up and started
writing again. The resulting record, Bow
Wow, was more than a return to form—
“My Funk” featured a heavily distorted
solo (a first for Watson) that was as good
as anything he ever recorded. The opening
track, “Johnny G. Is Back,” offers a killer
phased solo reminiscent of a hyper Eric
Gale, as well as the opening lyric, “Where
has he been?” Watson then answers the
question himself by name-checking Al Bell,
the famous Stax records executive. Wary of
record labels, Watson had started his own—
Wilma Records (which was named after his
mother)—and Bell had agreed to distribute
the first release, Bow Wow, through his
Bellmark imprint. Bell obviously made the
right decision: The record hit the R&B
charts and was nominated for a Grammy in
the Contemporary Blues category that year.
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