Raul Watson defines the term "Blues Outlaw". His tough exterior and deep Blues lyrics hide the mysteries and roots of his music. Although he was raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, his heart was born at the Crossroads. His soul finds refuge in Juke Joints across the country.

A trip to the Chicago Blues Festival introduced him to a style of music where the basic rhythms or rock and roll were bared to their beautiful bones and men had no problem singing like men. Naive and green at the age of nineteen, Raul decided then he was going to be a blues singer. A couple years with Bob Herrmann's Maverick Blues Band, a short lived tour through the Midwest and up the east coast, then a return to Cincinnati to form The Perpetrators made one thing clear. Life in the music business is rough and so often without reward.

He decided to apply his writing skills, and his vast network of friends in the music business to a career in music journalism. News, reviews and interviews became his wheelhouse. First making a name for himself at the Pennsylvania based American Blues News, then out to the west coast with Blues E News. Raul is currently part of the founding staff of Musicianados Magazine.
He also shoots live music videos for MusicUcansee. This landed him in Nashville, covering Music City and the Midwest.

Raul produces shows for Play It Forward, a musicians' relief organization started by Radio Hall of Famer Gary Burbank, where he crafted the annual Cincinnati Guitar Festival.

The last two solo recording projects, still available on Lance Boyd's SlimSlam Records, include a score of renown guest performers including Karen Lovely, FreekBass, Gary Burbank, Patrick McLaughlin, Dave Widow, Leo Clarke, and the Goddess of the Blues Cheryl Renee.

Like the Ohio River Valley where he came up, a whole lot of Chicago, Memphis, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Nashville settled in his soul carving out the Shuffling SmartAss Story Telling that is his sound. His last project, Blues Outlaws, produced by Wumbloozo's Michael Richard for the Los Angeles based Def Eggplant Records features Mikey Mo and Crooked Eye Tommy Marsh on guitar, Jim Scimonetti on sax, and of course, the Queen of Outlaw Blues, Karen Lovely.

Photo by Joy Neely.