Howard "Cedric Rainwater" Watts
Musician · 1913–1970 · Monticello, Florida
Best known for
Bass
Howard "Cedric Rainwater" Watts was the bassist who codified the 4/4 walking bass that became the rhythmic foundation of bluegrass — first under Bill Monroe in the genre-defining 1945–48 Blue Grass Boys with Earl Scruggs, Lester Flatt, and Chubby Wise, and then as a charter member of Flatt & Scruggs's Foggy Mountain Boys.
- Born Howard Staton Watts on February 19, 1913 in Monticello, Florida; took the stage name "Cedric Rainwater" while working with Monroe's group.
- Joined Bill Monroe in 1944 and stayed (with brief departures) through March 1948, anchoring the classic Blue Grass Boys lineup that recorded the September 1946 Columbia sides "Blue Moon of Kentucky" and "Will You Be Loving Another Man."
- Left Monroe with Flatt and Scruggs in early 1948 as a charter Foggy Mountain Boy; played on the band's first four Mercury sessions, including the December 11, 1949 cut of "Foggy Mountain Breakdown."
- Joined Hank Williams and His Drifting Cowboys in July 1950, recording with the band through 1951 on sessions including "Cold, Cold Heart" and "Hey Good Lookin'."
- Returned to Monroe briefly in 1951 and continued session work through the 1950s with Hank Snow, Ray Price, Jimmy Martin, the Osborne Brothers, and the Carter-Stanley collaboration sessions.
- Came back on the road in 1968 with the reunited Drifting Cowboys backing Hank Williams Jr. through 1970.
- Died of a heart attack in Nashville on January 21, 1970 at age 56.
- Inducted into the IBMA Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2007 — the first bass player inducted on his own merits, separate from Monroe's collective Blue Grass Boys induction in 1991.
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I'll Never Shed Another TearLester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys · Single (I'll Never Shed Another Tear) (1950)
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Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass BoysPlayed on recordings with Bill Monroe and His Bluegrass Boys
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Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain BoysPlayed on recordings with Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys
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Jimmy Martin and the Osborne BrothersPlayed on recordings with Jimmy Martin and the Osborne Brothers
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Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain BoysPlayed on recording with Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys