Willie Watson quit high school in 1997 to pursue his musical career. He is a folksinger, multi-instrumentalist (guitar, banjo, and harmonica), and sometimes songwriter.

Growing up in Watkins Glen, New York, Watson listened to his father’s record collection, which included artists like Bob Dylan and Neil Young, he later discovered Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music which helped trigger the folk music revival of the 1950s and ’60s.