Art on Lockdown: Anne Watts

For the record, and well before the COVID crisis, Anne Watts has never bought into the concept of a graceful retirement. As the bandleader of the highly acclaimed Baltimore group Boister since 1997, Watts has always aspired to follow in the footsteps of Mick Jagger or the legendary Cab Calloway as artists committed to the long-haul with their work.

So it might not come as much of a surprise to learn the Anne hasn’t stopped working during the pandemic, even though live performances have come to a shrieking halt. However, what might be surprising to know is how the musician is channeling her energy into a weekly radio show on WHCP in Cambridge, where she has lived for the last decade with her husband and children. 

As Watts waits out the country’s health crisis, she has used the radio program “WomenWattage” to dig deep into the lives of remarkable women, many of them native to Cambridge like Harriet Tubman and Gloria Richardson, and use the show to share their stories, and, in her words, “drop the needle” on music that mattered to them. She also chats about the power of community radio to honor the dead and stay in touch with ancestors. 

The Spy caught up with Anne and her dog, Bo, a few weeks ago on the Cambridge waterfront. 

This video is approximately four minutes in length. WomenWattage is broadcast on WHCP every Wednesday from 1-2 pm and Saturday from Noon – 1 pm.