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Preacher Boy

With his gritty voice, insistent rhythms, and slashing guitar work, Preacher Boy is an artist who bridges the gap between the past, present, and future of the blues. First making a splash on the San Francisco blues scene, Preacher Boy started out playing music explicitly rooted in the past, as on 1995's Preacher Boy & the Natural Blues, with arrangements influenced by 1930s blues and jazz, but by the time of 2000's The Devil's Buttermilk, he'd evolved a more contemporary approach incorporating electric guitars and keyboards. He stripped his music back to just guitar and vocals on 2016's Country Blues, 2018's The Rumble Strip was a bold experiment in electronics, and for 2024's Ghost Notes, he'd conjured a rootsy sound that paired blues roots with funky grooves.Preacher Boy was born Christopher Watkins in Iowa City, Iowa, in 1968. His grandfather, a musician and visual artist, gave Watkins his first guitar when he was 13, and showed him how to tune the instrument to an open chord in the manner of slide guitar players. After finding a Howlin' Wolf LP in his family's record collection, Watkins developed an keen interest in the blues, and when his mother checked out a copy of Samuel Charters' book The Country Blues for him, it opened his eyes to the great rural blues artists of the 1920s and '30s, and he carefully studied their music. As he gained skill and confidence, he played in a handful of bar bands before relocating to San Francisco, adopted the stage name Preacher Boy, and launched a group of his own in 1992. Preacher Boy & the Natural Blues played music centered on acoustic blues and early jazz from the 1920s and '30s. The band began gigging regularly and shared stages with the likes of Chris Isaak, Los Lobos, and J.J. Cale. The independent blues label Blind Pig Records signed the band, releasing their self-titled debut album in 1995, and on the strength of that LP, they landed a spot on the bill at the 1995 San Francisco Blues Festival, where they wowed fans and the local music press.Preacher Boy's second album for Blind Pig, Gutters and Pews, arrived in 1996, and followed the lead of the first set. More touring ensued, and Preacher Boy developed a following in Europe and the U.K., where more than a few American bluesmen had found a receptive audience. During a sojourn in London, Preacher Boy recorded 1998's Crow, issued by the Wah Tup label. His second Wah Tup release, 2000's The Devil's Buttermilk, saw him adding more electric sounds into his arrangements, giving the music an intriguing push and pull between old and new. That same year, he cut a cover of Tom Waits' "Old Boyfriends" that appeared on the tribute album New Coat of Paint: Songs of Tom Waits. Preacher Boy opened a handful of shows for Eagle Eye Cherry while promoting Crow, which led to a musical partnership between the two. Preacher Boy would co-write five songs on Cherry's 2001 release Living in the Present Future, as well as playing guitar on the sessions. After more touring, Preacher Boy's fifth album, Demanding to Be Next, was issued by Coast Road Records. Preacher Boy stepped away from music to concentrate on writing for several years, and spent some time living and working on poetry in a house once owned by Beat literary icon Jack Kerouac. In 2016, Preacher Boy announced his return to music by releasing three albums in a single year: Estate Bottled Blues, an eclectic mix of blues, rock, and indie rock strains; The National Blues, a rough and ready electric blues set, and Country Blues, where he covered classic blues songs with just his own guitar for accompaniment. 2018's The Rumble Strip once again found Preacher Boy experimenting with new musical textures, matching his bluesy melodies to a blend of guitars and electronics. After issuing a pair of EPs -- the rollicking political commentary of 2020's See No Evil and the minimalist stomp of 2021's Six for Three -- touring and writing took up much of his time, and it wouldn't be until 2024 that Preacher Boy delivered a new LP, 2024's Ghost Notes. Ghost Notes followed a more organic path than The Rumble Strip, with his rough-hewn vocals and guitar joined by funky rhythms, keyboards, and soulful female vocalists.
© Mark Deming /TiVo

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