The Heroes of Parlor Town - Volume 1 has been a featured CD of alternative radio and jazz stations throughout the United States; most recently featured on National Public Radio's All Songs Considered.

Author and Ragtime expert Ed Berlin had the following to say in his review in the June 2005 issue of The Mississippi Rag magazine:

"The CD...lives up to the promise of the website samples. Watkins plays with a great sense of the ragtime and stride styles, as we understand them. He tends to play his rags on the lively side, with a light, bouncy bass. He makes his rags happy, and they rollick with glee; his rendition of James Scott's "Hilarity Rag" expresses the title with exuberance. His stride pieces straddle the edges of rag, blues and jazz, merging the elements that make that style so exciting. He is not a purist as far as the notation is concerned, but his departures from the score are apt and delight with surprise."