"In my role as a music reviewer, I am often expected to put labels on artists, to translate and place their sounds into a printed, time-binding medium which, given the ephemeral conditions of music performance and the possibilities created by recording, produces an oxymoron if ever I understood one. There are two ways to consider a musician beyond category. One is to perceive them to be so out of the loop that they're sort of a head-scratcher and the other is to find them competent in so many styles that one label wont suit. John Watts falls into the latter group. Where to start? Pop, punk, singer-songwriter, poet, filmmaker, humorist, troubadour, multimedia artiste; these labels include only a few that could, theoretically, apply to such a wide-ranging set of talents, if General Semanticists were to endorse such a practice. What we do know is that john Watts has been recording in multiple styles and across a wide range of instrumentation for three decades, resulting in 17 albums, which collectively have sold over 2 million copies. Perhaps another descriptor could be popular."

Robert Barry Francos - Village Voice NYC Sept 2009

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