The Mojo of Music featuring Willie Watson
Willie Watson is not only a talented folk musician but also an accomplished clothing designer whose own style embodies the same authenticity and craftsmanship found in his music. With a penchant for vintage workwear and traditional Americana aesthetics, Watson's clothing line reflects his deep appreciation for the stories woven into both fabric and song. His wardrobe—often featuring hand-stitched garments and classic silhouettes—mirrors the timeless quality of his music, creating a seamless blend of sound and style. This alignment showcases his belief in the importance of heritage, artistry, and individuality, inviting fans to experience a holistic expression of his creative vision. While his music captures the spirit of American folk traditions, his mojo speaks on the layers of his own past.
I caught up with Watson a few nights after seeing his performance at the Dakota in Minneapolis to discuss his clothing line and masterful new release. Already building a legacy in Americana music as a co-founding member of Old Crow Medicine Show and two beautifully produced albums by David Rawlings, Watson cleared a new milestone. The 9 song, 45 minute self-titled release is the first album of his own material.
“I was always really cool, man. I remember watching a home video when I was younger. It was a video of my dad filming me and my brothers playing wiffle ball in the backyard. My grandma was over and you could hear her talking to my dad saying, that Will, he’s so cool. He’s really dressing up and likes it.”
-Willie Watson
This was the late eighties and little Will was eight years old wearing all kinds of Chuck Taylor’s, Zubaz striped glow in the dark pants, Santa Cruz shirts, Gotcha, and Body Glove brands. Although he grew up in the middle of New York state, there were a lot of California clothing brands in their closets.
They weren’t surfers, but for whatever reason, he was drawn to that street style and look. So what started as a cool neon 80’s beach guy vibe at age 8, evolved along with whatever he was into at the time. In high school he was getting into hippie music and Neil Young, following that style until grunge came along and shifted him into wearing beat up flannels.
His mother would take him over to Ithaca to The Commons. That was the biggest town near them and The Commons had anything that was leaning towards modern fashion trends other than a large department store. Once he became a teenager, Watson was already on the outskirts of culture and interested in more alternative things. Looking back, fashion has been a big part of his upbringing and admits there’s always been some vanity in it.
“I’ve always worn stuff that’s going to attract a little more attention than the rest of the people in town. And I wonder why I do that. Maybe I’m an attention seeker and I am, of course I am. I’m an entertainer. I love being on stage. I love being up there and having everyone look at me and listen to me. So it just all plays into that, I guess.”
-Willie Watson
Stepping on stage recently at the Dakota, Watson was quick to mention that although he may look and sound the part, he’s not from Kentucky, not from Alabama, or either of the Carolinas, but lives in LA. He shares that LA has diverse little corners of the fashion world. When he first moved there, he discovered a store called Mister Freedom. Christopher Lauren and Double RL were also picking up steam at the time, which tied into Watson’s desire to start getting into denim. He was looking at pictures of artists all wearing chambray shirts and jeans, like Bob Marley with his pop button shirt, to pictures of John Lennon wearing double denim. He was drawn to that style and couldn’t find the exact look growing in New York state. Walking into Mister Freedom, it was filled with all of the denim culture aesthetics and readily available. That store helped immerse him into the heritage world of fashion that he’s been in ever since.
Watson’s mother taught him how to use their old green Kenmore sewing machine when he was a young teenager. He started making backpacks and learning how to stitch them up. When he was in his 20’s, Watson started noticing the pants on musicians from the 60’s, like Bob Dylan and the Beatles. He wanted that look and couldn’t find them back in the early 2000’s. Pants were awful back then. He was trying everything he could to get those 60’s pants by buying women’s pants, tapering and altering them, taking stuff apart and reverse engineering them to teach himself how clothes came together.
His infatuation with clothing came to peak when he was a part of Old Crow Medicine Show and they came together to start their second major record, Big Iron World. Everyone was together in pre-production compiling material they might want to put onto the record. Everyone’s sharing ideas, songs, and potential old songs they want to revisit, while Watson is there thinking about how he’s got eight pairs of really nice pants. The realization of being consumed by designing clothes made him abandon it until years later after Old Crow when he wanted to make his daughter some dresses. He pulled back out the machine and made a Pollyanna dress, posting pictures of it on Instagram. After receiving a lot of praise and inquiries on how to purchase it, Watson taught himself how to grade patterns and make adult sizes. Willie Watson Mgf Co was created with this one dress in two different fabrics.
“I just get obsessed with something. I can focus on one thing, maybe two things. So once I got the bug for it, I just couldn’t stop. I wasn’t trying to start some business. I didn’t need the money, but thank God I started doing it because it really helped me through some hard financial times. The only excuse I have is that I just went crazy.”
His range expanded into making a bunch of shirts and eventually through the encouragement of Ryan Martin from W.H Ranch Dungarees, dove into the denim jean arena. Watson uses single needle construction and doesn’t have any flat fall machines or chain stitches. He has to manipulate the fabric himself with ironing, folding, and attaching the waistband without any special machines. Everything takes a little more time, but the level of skill he puts into it ensures it’s at the highest quality.
For his tour stop in Minneapolis, his homemade indigo jacket stood out as the statement piece of the outfit. Watson shares that he used the wabi-sabi style of stitching where it’s a bit more sloppy on purpose and designed to feel a bit more thrown together. Wabi-sabi is a traditional Japanese aesthetic that centers on the acceptance of transience and imperfection. It’s sometimes described as appreciating beauty that is imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete in nature. He doesn’t have pattern pieces for any of the pockets, instead butting out slabs of fabric and folding them up in whatever size and shape that works. The back of the jacket featured a cinch strap, designed for fit. This is a callback to old work jackets that he’s inspired by. It ties back to his discovery of the heritage workwear niche in fashion from going to Mister Freedom in LA.
His pants are one of the first cuts of jeans that are designed to be slim. He considers them his version of blue cut Wranglers. The grayish-blue button up shirt that came from finding some cool indigo plaid fabric. He only got a few yards of it to make a dress for somebody, but then had enough left to make a few shirts. Watson realizes that part of his charm is a mixture of cuteness and a childlike aspect of his personality, which these clothes help bring out.
Watson has really been into wearing really good Birkenstocks back on some back issues and the level of comfort they provide while standing for long periods of time. The dark Honnef Low has a tinge of sportiness to them and the black suede works seamlessly in his outfit.
Surrounded by fans on three sides, Willie Watson time traveled throughout an eclectic anthology of songs at the Dakota. His self-titled release was predominantly represented with songs like “Slim and the Devil” (inspired by a poem by Sterling Brown) and his single “Real Love” (whose music video spotlights all the important places in his marriage), as the depth of heritage and stories overfilled the stage.
“Already Gone” is a sparkling ballad that penetrated every seat of the venue with a hushed observance of his trio of fiddler Sami Braman and bassist Paul Kowert. While “Sad Song” carried a simple blues-folk anatomy that felt perfectly placed at the front of the set. The highlight of the new songs falls in “Reap ‘Em in the Valley” that lands between a talking confessional and self-mythology of his life. Filled with clever snickers and peeks of his past life, the performance had the entire audience smiling and leaning forward in their seats.
The rest of his set was steeped in traditional songs and re-interpreted tunes, aligning with the mojo and essence of his own personal style. “Mole in the Ground” (Bascom Lamar Lunsford) showcased Watson’s talent on banjo, followed by “That Black Snake Moan” (Blind Lemon Jefferson) provided bouts of shouts and a rumpus rendition from the trio. It’s this talent for honoring classic songs that have established Watson as a prominent contemporary interpreter of the traditional songbook. Much like the heritage theme in his clothing, Watson remains enamored by the past.
Other highlights included an innovative cover of “Dancing On My Own” by Swedish singer Robyn that we didn’t know we truly needed. Watson’s spin and pace of the performance of the song is still stuck in my head. Ending the evening with his story of getting asked to be in the Coen Brothers movie The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, then performing the standout track “When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs For Wings”, Watson capped the night with charm.
When asked what he'd like the first impression to be when stepping up to the microphone, Watson is clear about his hope and the reality.
“I want their full attention and I just want them to be waiting with bated breaths for me to begin, with this moment of anticipation because they love me so much. That’s my dream world and all the adoration anyone could possibly handle, but that’s not reality. What I can hope for is just a chance to start. All I need is for the air to clear when I walk on stage and for there to be a clear canvas.”
-Willie Watson
As an artist, Watson sees a music venue as that surface for him to paint. Stroke by stroke, song by song, he’s creating a cohesive picture to present with his guitar and voice. Much like the visual arts of a painting, a show is designed for listening. The visuals of his outfit and lighting support that complete picture, engaging with an audience on multiple levels.
Watson acknowledges that fashion and music go together extremely well. He thinks back to when he was learning to play guitar, listening to a ton of music. He was often doing crafty things at his desk, making things while listening to music. No one wants to sit and just listen to a record player. That practice of crafting while absorbing music was instrumental in making his solo record and also fulfills his passion with designing clothes. And that bond is the heart of having mojo.
Check out the links below for ways to follow Willie Watson and explore some topics we mentioned above.
Willie Watson Website - Willie Watson MFG Co. - Spotify - Mister Freedom - Gotcha - Wabi Sabi