William Currie Watson (born September 23, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, banjo player, actor and founding member of Old Crow Medicine Show.

[5] Growing up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, Watson listened to music on the radio – from Michael Jackson to Nirvana – but also his father's record albums, including The Rolling Stones and Neil Young.

Around Ithaca and next-door Tompkins County "a lot of old-time fiddle music" was being played, some of it by banjo player Richie Stearns and the group Donna The Buffalo.

[7] Both Watson and Gould dropped out of school and formed the band The Funnest Game, which like Richie Stearns' group The Horse Flies had "clawhammer banjo, electric guitar, drums.

"[7] Their brand of electric/old-time was heavily influenced by the old-time scene prominent in Tompkins and Schuyler County, New York, including The Horse Flies and The Highwoods Stringband.

Future bandmate Ketch Secor described it as a "young folksy kind of jam element acoustic band that was really popular in the southern tier region of New York State."

"[8]: 7 Watson met future co-founder of Old Crow Medicine Show Ketch Secor after the latter finished high school in New Hampshire, his band broke up in Virginia, and he enrolled in Ithaca College.

According to Mac Benford, Ithaca had for 40 years "been a center of old time music, nationally,"[10] including Kevin Hayes[8]: 5  They recorded Trans:mission, a cassette of ten songs they could sell on the road.

He left to embark on a solo career in the autumn of 2011, a couple months before Fuqua rejoined the group,[15] citing time on the road, new parenthood, and direction the band was headed as reasons for the split.

Watson's transition to solo appearances began slowly with an invitation from siblings Sean and Sara Watkins to join them on a Cayamo cruise—a "singer-songwriter, folk, rootsy festival on a ship around the Bahamas."

2 was produced by David Rawlings and featured collaborations with Gillian Welch, The Fairfield Four, Morgan Jahnig of Old Crow Medicine Show, and Paul Kowert of Punch Brothers.

[26] In its review of the new album, The Guardian states nobody makes "the old songs sound fresher" than Watson, "thanks to a voice that's young but weathered, strong but eerie, and comes backed by intricate banjo and guitar picking.

"[27] Watson says of "Samson and Delilah" by Reverend Gary Davis:[29] When you hear him play, it stops you in your tracks and makes a guy like me question every musical thing I've ever done.

It's one of those songs I wouldn't have thought I could pull off, but thankfully I had the Fairfield Four to help me out.Watson makes his first appearance on an Old Crow Medicine Show track since leaving the group on "Miles Away", lead single on Jubilee (released August 2023 through ATO Records).

On this record, he renews "musical bonds" with Paul Kowert and Gabe Witcher of Punch Brothers, not to mention "keyboard legend" Benmont Tench.

[31] Watson owns one of the most distinctive voices in modern Americana; high and melodic, it can also be piercing, plaintive, and downright otherworldly, an echo from the time “old weird America” was amassing its treasury of song.

[34] Kenneth Pattengale and Gabe Witcher produced the album with a studio band that included Dylan Day on guitar, Paul Kowert on bass, Sami Braman on fiddle, and Jason Boesel on drums.

[35] Watson appeared as The Kid in the Coen brothers' The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (2018), performing in "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings."

In Summer 2016, he toured Australia with Josh Hedley for "a string of joint-headline shows throughout the east coast" of that country, including the Bello Winter Music Festival in Bellingen.

[38] The tour included stops in the major cities of Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney where regional "support" acts opened for them—e.g., Imogen Clark, Matt Walker, Freya Josephine Hollick,[38] and Elwood Myre.

[39] In Fall of 2016, Watson toured with Aiofe O'Donovan, "captivating" lead singer of Boston progressive string band Crooked Still—with stops in Ohio,[40] North Carolina,[41] and Virginia.

[45] He performs on "select shows" of the group's 2024 North American tour,[46] designed to commemorate in part the 25th anniversary of Old Crow's founding.

"[47] Watson embarked on a 2024 tour across North America,[48] performing as a trio with fiddler/violinist Sami Braman and original Old Crow Medicine Show bass player Ben Gould.

Watson was announced "as support" on all dates of the Alison Krauss & Union Station five-month 2025 North American tour, kicking off April 25 in Atlanta and continuing through September.

When he eventually started listening to old-time and "mountain music," he found that "singing up there, that high lonesome sound, sort of put a little more volume behind it.