[4] Around the year 1959, she was introduced to Piano Red, who had a daily radio show on WAOK, and she subsequently joined Piano Red and the Meter-tones, who played in a number of towns in the Atlanta area, and then Atlanta clubs such as the Magnolia Ballroom and the Casino, before starting to tour throughout the southeast, primarily at colleges.
The group also included Roy Lee Johnson (composer of "Mr. Moonlight", later recorded by The Beatles), and Albert White.
After the breakup of the band in about 1965, Watkins played with Eddie Tigner and the Ink Spots, Joseph Smith and the Fendales, and then with Leroy Redding and the Houserockers until the late 1980s.
She was re-discovered by Music Maker Relief Foundation founder Tim Duffy, who started booking her in package shows, and in 1998, with Koko Taylor and Rory Block, was part of the all-star Women of the Blues "Hot Mamas" tour.
Watkins was playing internationally (for example, the Main Stage at the Ottawa Blues Fest in 2004)[6] as well as in her hometown Atlanta[7][8] until temporarily sidelined by surgery in 2005, but recovered.