(blues music)
- [Announcer] Give it up one more time.
(blues music)
- Blues is a feeling.
And it is an experience.
Blues is about something that happens in my life.
♫ Rock me all night long
My name is Beverly Watkins.
I was born here in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1939.
- [Narrator] Beverly Watkins was a pioneer
for women in Blues.
- When I was playing back in the '60s,
there wasn't no female guitar players,
not in Georgia.
They said I played like a man,
but they're using the wrong terminology.
The main thing is because I play so good.
- [Narrator] After high school,
Beverly began touring with the band
Piano Red and the Meter Tones.
Shortly thereafter, she was opening
for some of the biggest acts in music.
- We opened up for James Brown,
B.B. King, Otis Redding.
I played over two or 3,000 shows.
Back in those days, the artists took time
and help each other.
- [Narrator] Her hard classic blues style has evolved
over the last 60 years.
Touring with different bands and eventually going solo.
- I never stopped.
When they said I should, I didn't pay them no mind.
I kept going.
Yes, it has gotten hard out there, you know.
I clean houses, I worked at car washes,
I clean offices, but I never stopped playing my music.
- [Narrator] And she has no plans on stopping
anytime soon.
Well into her 70s, she still puts on
a show for the crowd.
- It is keeping me living, keeping me going.
I'm going to look good and have a good time.
And get up there and do my thing.