Speaking or singing, Austin-based musician Dale Watson’s smooth baritone sounds like that of a prophet — and this prophet is saying that country music is a sham.
“As far as what country music used to be, that word is dead,” Watson told me. “They’ve succeeded in strangling it. It’s the snake that finally ate its entire body.”
Watson has long been known as a country singer who would have been better off being born a generation earlier, say, the ’60s, when legends like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard first graced the stage.
But Watson debuted in 1995, the heyday of Nashville darlings like Garth Brooks and Shania Twain.
He wants nothing to do with them and their so-called country.
“So many people say, ‘Oh yeah, I grew up on (Merle) Haggard and (George) Jones,’ but you listen to their music and you can’t hear any of that,” Watson drawled. “That’s what my main problem is. People that don’t care about the roots of country music… Country music used to embrace its past, the people that built the house, and now they just discard them like trash. They don’t try to learn from them.”
To distance himself from that type of country, Watson has created his own genre called “Ameripolitan,” which he defines as “original music with prominent roots influence.”
“I like to think that Ameripolitan is what our country music would have been, where it would have went if it hadn’t have been polluted by the rock world,” Watson said.
I spoke to Watson a couple days ago in advance of his visit to Bakersfield, and the artist told me he will be coming to the Midwest in the fall. If you have a chance, hit up a show. Watson has a reputation for unpredictable on-stage antics, and his new album, From the Cradle to the Grave, showcases Watson’s soulful voice brilliantly.
The first single from the album, “Justice for All,” which you can hear at www.myspace.com/dalewatson, tells the tale of a father’s struggle between forgiveness and the desire for revenge against the man who murdered his daughter.
“An eye for an eye would leave the whole world blind, forgiveness is the way, but I can’t forgive his crime, and if I had the chance in truth I’d have to say, I’d gun that bastard down with a smile on my face,” Watson rumbles.
Both the song’s focus, which Watson said is more of a social commentary than he usually writes, and its style bring to mind another man in black — Johnny Cash.
In fact, the entire album was recorded in a cabin that once belonged to Cash. It is now owned by “Jackass” star Johnny Knoxville, a close friend of Watson’s.
The album’s path seems almost pre-ordained. When Watson found out the cabin had no recording equipment, friends provided it. Watson didn’t think he would be making a salable album, but his new label, Hyena Records, stood by the material. And though Watson at first tried to avoid the Cash connection, he gave in, and the writing and recording took just five days.
“There was just no denying it, especially when I was writing the songs,” Watson said. “I don’t want people thinking I’m trying to imitate or copy, but there was no denying that writing style, and when we recorded it, it just came out that way.”
Watson said that once he finishes up this tour, he will return to Austin and begin work on another album that pays tribute to some musical greats. Working with steel guitarist Lloyd Green
and the Nashville Cats, a group that was popular in the ’60s, he will record new songs he has written and re-record some favorites.
“Nashville seems to think they’re washed up, but these guys are great,” he said. “Just because they’re older in years doesn’t mean they can’t still play.”
— Maggie
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