Howard Stanton Watts, born in Monticello, Florida, on Feb. 18, 1913, was a bass player, comedian, and harmony vocalist who performed as “Cedric Rainwater” and played in three seminal country bands: Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys, Flatt and Scruggs’ Foggy Mountain Boys, and Hank Williams’ Drifting Cowboys. His first instrument was guitar, and he began performing locally in the 1930s, broadening his act with comedy and tap dance. Around 1941, he went to Nashville to join country bandleader Paul Howard. He had performed music and comedy in Florida as “Arizona Slim,” but after joining Bill Monroe he switched from guitar to upright acoustic bass and adopted the name Cedric Rainwater, at a time when bass players were expected to perform baggy-pants comedy. During his tenure with Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys from 1944 to 1948, Monroe codified what became known as bluegrass music, and Watts’ recording sessions with Monroe in September 1946 are generally regarded as the first bluegrass recordings. Monroe’s group included Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt. Watts often played bass in jazz-influenced 4/4 time instead of the more common 2/4, sang baritone on quartet songs, and played on the first ever bluegrass sessions with Monroe. When Flatt and Scruggs left Monroe in 1948, Watts left with them and stayed with the Foggy Mountain Boys until 1950, playing on all of their recordings from those years, including the original version of “Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” while also singing on quartet pieces and performing comedy. In July 1950, Watts began playing bass with Hank Williams’ Drifting Cowboys and remained until Williams disbanded the group at the end of 1951. Williams called him “our antique bass thumper” because he was ten years older than the rest of the group. During that period, Watts probably played on some of Williams’ classic recordings, including “Cold, Cold Heart,” “Hey Good Looking,” and “Honky Tonk Blues,” and on stage and radio shows he sang four-part harmony and performed comedy. Watts occasionally worked with Williams in 1952, but his principal job was with Hank Snow. After Williams’ death on New Year’s Day 1953, Watts joined other former Drifting Cowboys in Ray Price’s band, then went on to work with many bluegrass and country musicians. He performed with Johnnie and Jack as late as 1964, though the acoustic bass was less in demand by then. From the late 1950s, he and his wife, Alice, ran a restaurant. In 1964, Hank Williams’ widow Audrey formed the booking agency Aud-Lee, and Watts joined it as a talent booker until 1969, when some former Drifting Cowboys reunited to back Hank Williams Jr. He was still working with Williams Jr. at the time of his death in Nashville on Jan. 21, 1970. He was buried in his wife’s family plot in Savannah, Tenn. In 2007, Howard Watts was elected to the IBMA Hall of Fame.