Watson Keeps Country Old-School

from: TheWeekender.com

by Nikki M. Mascali

Dale Watson looks like country and, with his twangy bluesy delivery, he sounds like country. But don't dare insult him by calling him country. Correction: Don't dare insult him by calling him today's country.

To Watson, that is the ultimate "c" word that he likens to Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Rascal Flatts, all of which he isn't shy of lambasting.

"They have successfully taken what was country music and turned it into something else," Watson explained. "Obviously a lot of people like it or it wouldn't be so successful, but just because it sells a million [copies] doesn't mean shit to me."

Watson is based in Austin, Texas — a musically hot city that has been homebase for many: Stevie Ray Vaughan, Asleep at the Wheel, Butthole Surfers and the annual South by Southwest festival.

"Austin's never not been a hot scene, really," he said. "There's so many different genres. It's very musically free — there's no shackles like there is in Nashville where you have to be Top 40 to get listened to."

Today's Top 40 country is quite different from the Top 40 of Watson's youth when today's legends — Merle Haggard, Conway Twitty, George Jones, Buck Owens, Bob Wills and Johnny Cash — ruled the airwaves in the '70s.

"That's when it was still great country music, it wasn't this pop stuff," Watson said. "The general public will consume whatever is advertised the most, that's just the way it is. Even that William Hung sold a bunch of records, and he's about as bad as you can get.

"People like me, there's no animosity or jealousy in what's going on, it's just the way it is and it's always been this way. Whatever is marketed and has money behind it is what is going to be the flavor."

For the artists like himself, Watson created the term "Ameripolitan," which he has defined on Wikipedia as "original music with prominent roots influence." He coined the phrase because he found "Americana" too broad a term for his type of music.

"It didn't really focus on or strengthen the type of music that I like to keep out there," he said. "I think country music — what was country music — has to go the route of bluegrass, which was considered part of country music, but they created their own festivals, awards and genres."

Watson practices what he preaches in keeping his own music thoroughly rooted in yesterday's country, and nowhere does he capture those roots more than on his latest release, last year's "From The Cradle To The Grave."

Watson recorded and wrote most of it at the Tennessee log cabin of his friend Johnny Knoxville, which just so happens to be the former cabin of one Johnny Cash (click here to read full article...).

DALE WATSON News, Tour Dates, Music, etc...

Please visit DaleWatson.com or MySpace.com/DaleWatson for news and a complete list of upcoming tour dates.

Click here to buy Dale Watson's "From The Cradle To The Grave" today!

LINKS:

http://www.dalewatson.com
http://www.myspace.com/dalewatson
http://www.hyenarecords.com/dalewatson