Dale Watson - Biography
Dale Watson is a honky tonk country singer with a visceral style and a backing band — The Lone Stars — that can play everything from cowboy jazz to metallic country rock. Increasingly bothered by terms like old time country, alt.country, Americana and roots rock, Watson coined the term “Ameripolitian” to define his niche: country with blues, jazz, rock and punk influences. Watson was inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame in 2005.
Watson comes from a family steeped in hard-core country music. An uncle played with Merle Travis and his dad was a guitar picking long haul truck driver. Watson’s brother Jim taught him how to play guitar and he wrote his first tunes while he was still in grammar school.
He spent almost a decade playing honky tonks in and around his family’s Houston, Texas home, but a chance meeting with Rosie Flores in 1988 convinced him that he’d find fame and fortune in the alt.country scene in Los Angeles. He lucked into a gig as guitar player in the house band of the Palomino Club, North Hollywood’s legendary cowboy bar and got signed to Curb, a major label. After two singles, “One Tear at a Time” and “You Pour It On,” went nowhere, Curb dropped him.
After a brief stint as a staff writer in Nashville, Watson moved to Austin, put together The Lone Stars and landed a deal with Oakland’s roots music powerhouse HighTone. Cheatin’ Heart Attack (1995 HighTone), Blessed or Damned (1996 HighTone) and I Hate These Songs (1997 HighTone) got almost universal praise for Watson’s songwriting and the band’s sharp, take no prisoners approach to country music. Watson’s James Dean meets Merle Haggard good looks didn’t do his career any harm either. Watson spent most of the late 90s on the road and toured Europe, where American Honky Tonk music has a huge audience.
Koch picked up Watson and released The Truckin’ Sessions (1998), 14 gear jamming tunes full of booze and diesel smoke. The album was inspired by his years of playing truck stop bars and it was nearly his last album. Soon after Truckin’ Sessons came out, his fiancé was killed in an automobile accident. The sudden loss took a toll on his mental health, with Watson medicating himself with pills and booze and finally checking into a metal hospital. When he emerged, he recorded Every Song I Write Is for You (2001 Audium/Koch). The album’s beautiful, grief drenched love songs got him the best reviews of his career.
Watson teamed up with producer Ray Benson (Asleep at the Wheel) for Dreamland (2004 Koch), then took a break to spend time with his daughters. In 2006, he returned to Austin and was offered an acting gig as a honky tonk singer in director Zalman King’s (9 ½ Weeks, Delta of Venus) Austin Angel. King was so impressed with Watson that he put his film on hold to follow Watson around as he played honky tonks and talked about his mental collapse. The resulting documentary Crazy Again, premiered at SXSW in 2006.
Later that year, his pal Johnny Knoxville asked Watson if he’d like to write some songs in the cabin he’d just bought in Henderson, Tennessee. The cabin was previously owned by Johnny Cash, who used it as a writer’s retreat. Watson jumped at the chance and also arranged to have a portable recording studio set up in the living room. The result was From the Cradle to the Grave (2007 Hyena), another collection of dark tales about people facing up to the cold hard facts of life and death with varying degrees of success. A man whose child has been murdered ponders retribution on “Justice for All,” wondering if he can do the right thing, while broken hearted ballads like “It’s Not Over Now” and “Time Without You” are obviously inspired by the loss of his fiancé. The Little Darlin’ Sessions (2007 Koch), recorded in 2005 at Little Darlin’, the studio owned by Johnny Paycheck, was also released. Watson assembled the Little Darlin’ house band for the sessions, including pianist “Pig” Robbins and steel player Lloyd Green, and put his own stamp on tunes like Paycheck’s “Apartment #9” and Stonewall Jackson’s “Pint of No Return.” Watson’s primal delivery makes every track smolder. In 2008 Watsone recorded a full LP dedicated to his lost love, titled To Terri With Love. That same year he also released Help Your Lord, followed by The Truckin' Sessions Vol. 2 (2009), Carryin' On (2010), The Sun Sessions (2011), and El Rancho Azul (2013).
