Charlie Watts Collaborations Outside the Stones You May Not Know

Charlie Watts, the late original drummer for the Rolling Stones, was rather famous for being the opposite kind of character people imagine rock icons to be.

For as strong, steady and capable of a musician Watts was, he was also reserved, prim and modest.

“I’m very private,” he told Classic Rock in 2012. “I’m not really that interested in talking about me.”

Watts drummed with the Rolling Stones from 1963 until 2021, the year he passed away. But somehow in the middle of all that, he found time to collaborate with artists outside the Stones. (And that’s to say nothing of the 10 jazz albums he recorded on his own.) Below we’ve compiled a list of 6 of those endeavors that you may not know about.

1. Leon Russell, Leon Russell (1970)

The list of people who played on Leon Russell‘s debut, self-titled album in 1970 is impressive, to say the least. Among them was George Harrison, Steve Winwood, Ringo Starr, Joe Cocker and Jim Gordon. And there was also Watts, who drummed on a song fittingly titled “Roll Away the Stone.” Stones bassist Bill Wyman also played on the track. “I’ve been in a lot of studios and made a lot of records with a lot less talent than that,” Russell said to Rolling Stone back then, “and it was easy.”

2. Feel Your Groove, Ben Sidran (1971)

If you don’t know the name Ben Sidran, allow us to enlighten. Early on in his career, he was a member of the Steve Miller Band, but he was also a session musician for the likes of Eric Clapton, Boz Scaggs, Van Morrison, the Rolling Stones, Peter Frampton (more on him later) and others. The first time Sidran met Watts was in 1969 when he picked the drummer up at home for a Stones session, where he found him listening to Miles Davis ‘ Kind of Blue. “I said ‘Man, I’m really happy to hear you listening to Miles, because to tell you the truth, I don’t listen to the Stones very much,'” Sidran later recalled to The Gazette in 2014. “Charlie said, ‘That’s all right, mate. Neither do we.’ We wound up driving to London and talking about jazz and all the stuff that he loved.” Watts then played drums on Sidran’s very first solo album, 1970’s Feel Your Groove, on a track called “The Blues in England.”

3. The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions, Howlin’ Wolf (1971)

In 1970, Clapton gathered together the entire Rolling Stones rhythm section — Watts, Wyman and pianist Ian Stewart — plus a few other characters including Winwood, Klaus Voormann of Beatles fame and harmonica player Jeffrey Carp for what became one of the first examples of a super blues session. At the helm of it was none other than Howlin’ Wolf. These jams, recorded at Olympic Studios in 1970, turned into The London Howlin’ Wolf Sessions, a live album released the following year.

READ MORE: When Charlie Watts Dressed Up to Punch Mick Jagger in the Face

4. Rough Mix, Ronnie Lane and Pete Townshend (1977)

Pete Townshend had some free time on his hands at the tail end of 1976, just after finishing a tour of North America with the Who. So, he joined forces with Ronnie Lane, former bassist for Small Faces and Faces, for an album that ultimately became Rough Mix, released in 1977. Watts was one of several musicians to contribute to the record, playing drums on two songs: “My Baby Gives It Away” and “Catmelody.” “We did two faultless live takes (no overdubs at all) of my song ‘My Baby Gives It Away,'” Townshend later recalled (via UDiscover Music) after Watts’ passing. “His technique was obvious immediately, the hi-hat always slightly late, and the snare drumstick held in the flat of the left hand, underpowered to some extent, lazy-loose, super-cool. The swing on the track is explosive.”

5. Resurrection, Bobby Womack (1994)

Bobby Womack made his 1994 album, Resurrection, with the help of a bunch of famous friends, including but not limited to Rod Stewart, Ronald Isley and not one but three members of the Rolling Stones: Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Watts. “Bobby Womack was a huge influence on us,” the Stones said in a statement after Womack’s death in 2014 (via The Herald). “He was a true pioneer of soul and R&B, whose voice and songwriting touched millions.”

6. Fingerprints, Peter Frampton (2006)

At one point in time, Peter Frampton‘s name was thrown out as a possible replacement for Stones guitarist Mick Taylor. That never came to fruition, but decades later, Frampton remained in touch with the two Stones members who had suggested him in the first place: Watts and Wyman. Both of them appeared on a track called “Cornerstones” from Frampton’s Grammy-winning 2006 album Fingerprints.