Glenn and Vivian Watson were a husband and wife team, very active in the Dayton area in the 1950s and into the 1960s. Glenn played mandolin, Vivian played guitar, and they did a lot of good mountain-style harmony duets. Natives of Estill County, Kentucky, they came to Dayton and secured jobs at General Motors where they both retired after thirty years of service. When they first arrived in Dayton, they formed a band that included Glenn’s brother Audra and fiddler Johnny McKee. Eventually forming a duet, they performed at radio stations rather than bars and opened for national acts at various Dayton venues as well as appearing on barn dance styled shows run by Les Bodine and by Tommy Sutton. In the early 1960s they were regulars on the WCKY Ohio Jamboree, broadcast live from Madison Lake State Park in London. They also did a DJ show on a Piqua radio station (probably WPTW). They recorded for Les Bodine’s BMC record label in 1959 and also for the Cincinnati cover label, Big4 Hits. They had a very good cover version of the Louvin Brothers’ “I Don’t Believe You’ve Met My Baby” on Big4. On some of those recordings Glenn’s sister Jewel joined them. While appearing on the WCKY Ohio Jamboree, the act and their marriage both fell apart. Vivian continued on for a while as a solo act and Glenn played with the Kentucky Cut-Ups. Vivian stayed in the Dayton area and Glenn went back to Kentucky after his retirement. Glenn and Vivian Watson, not exactly bluegrass because they used an electric lead guitar on some of their recordings, they were, like the Louvins, in a gray area between country and bluegrass.
WATSON, GLENN HOWARD (1924-2019) and WATSON, VIVIAN JOHNSON (1924-1999)