Johnny Guitar Watson - I Don't Want to Be Alone, Stranger 1975

 It isn't easy to reinvent yourself when you're in your late 30s, but Johnny "Guitar" Watson was among the artists who was able to pull it off. In the 1950s, the singer/guitarist became well known in the blues world for classics like "Gangster of Love" and "Hot Little Mama"; some blues fans would have been happy if he had remained a blues singer for the rest of his life. But in the 1970s, Watson was determined to change with the times and appeal to young R&B audiences. So he reinvented himself as a funk-soul artist, and that stylistic makeover paid off in a major way when 1976's Ain't That a Bitch went through the roof commercially. Released in 1975, I Don't Want to Be a Lone Ranger isn't in a class with Ain't That a Bitch or 1977's A Real Mother for Ya, but it's still a decent record. Although Watson turned 40 in 1975, this LP (which was his last album for Fantasy) is hardly the work of someone who was stuck in the past. Enjoyable soul items like "It's Way Too Late," "Tripping," and "You Make My Heart Want to Sing" are definitely relevant to what young soul audiences were demanding in 1975 -- and they weren't demanding the type of 12-bar blues recordings that put Watson on the map back in the 1950s. I Don't Want to Be a Lone Ranger falls short of essential, but it's a respectable effort that's worth hearing if you're among Watson's hardcore fans.