Gene Watson: CMP Feature - Nov 2009
The Gene Watson Fan Site has been online since September 2004 & is an
online attempt to reach out to Gene's existing army of fans, with the added
intention of drawing in new fans too.
The intention of the Fan Site is to
bring together an online community of Gene's fans and, with the assistance
of the Official Gene Watson Site
based in Nashville, further the music career of Gene Watson.
The 'Gene Watson: Tailgate Party' interview was conducted by Walt Trott at
the Nashville offices of John Lytle
Management on Thursday 10 September 2009 & was published in the November
2009 issue of the UK's highly respected
Country Music People
magazine.
November 2009
Walt Trott talks to the singer hailed as one of
the all-time great voices of country music, whose album proves this ain't no
Farewell Party
When it comes to shit-kickin' country
music, count on veteran honky-tonk stylist Gene Watson to deliver the goods.
Indeed contemporary country favourite Trace Adkins joined Gene in the studio
to demonstrate traditional country hasn't died, specifically on 'We've Got a
pulse', co-written by Billy Yates
and Jerry Salley.
It's a highlight on Watson's new rootsy CD 'A
Taste of the Truth'.
Salley also co-wrote
(with Monty Holmes) Watson's second disc duet with
Rhonda Vincent, 'Staying Together', also
part of the talented Texan's second album for
Shanachie Records. The
Watson-Vincent ballad is the set's first single, and was selected for a
music video, which Gene and Rhonda wrapped the night before our interview
(on Wednesday 9 September 2009).
'Patience is a virtue when you're doing videos', a weary Watson sighs.
'All I can do for a video is sing. That's easy with
Rhonda Vincent, who's a great singer and a
good actress, and our voices seem to go so well together...'
Apparently, as their first duet was on Gene's premier
Shanachie Records album 'In
a Perfect World', a rendition of Buck Owens' classic 'Together Again'.
That pairing earned them consideration for the CMA best music event category
in 2008.
Incidentally, from that first Shanachie
CD, Gene's duet with Connie Smith - 'A Good
Place to Turn Around' - became a Top Five on the Gospel Radio Active chart,
while his vocal collaboration with Vince Gill - 'Let Me Be the First to Go'
- was No.1 on the HotDisc European
chart.
'Staying Together' was Watson's pick, and since it's a duet, he immediately
thought about Vincent: 'It has such a lot of feeling to it'.
During our chat at John Lytle Management
on Music Row, Gene points out that other backing voices heard on the new set
belong to Alison Krauss, John Wesley Ryles,
Liana Manis and Dirk Johnson, the album's
producer.
'I chose Dirk for this project because I've worked a lot with him and he's
played piano on a number of my records. I listened to his work and liked
it. But there again, what he was doing was producing me. He says his
secret for a good Gene Watson album is don't get away from the Gene Watson
style, if that makes any sense...I need some lateral movement, so I can do what
I feel needs to be done. I'm gonna have to have my input; I couldn't
operate without that. I feel that each song I record is like one of my
kids, special, and there has to be something about each that I love or I
wouldn't record it'.
Although he doesn't do so to take writer credit (and doesn't), Watson wants
approval from songwriters to make alterations he feels are necessary musically.
'I always said if I had a talent other than singing, it's pickin' the right
material. I'm pretty critical about my songs. I may listen for days
and not hear a song I like, and then you just never know, I listen to three
songs in a row and like all of them', continues Watson. 'A lot of the
writers know what to pitch me because they kinda know what I really like.
I'm pretty fortunate, too, having great writers pitch their songs to me.
Every time I've ever recorded one of their songs, they never hesitate to say,
'If you don't like something, change it!' I've rewritten a lot of songs in
the studio to make them fit me'.
Gene has a way of getting into a song that'll make the hair stand up on your
arms, particularly when he reaches notes like the finale for 'Farewell Party'.
'As you mentioned, I really get into the emotional songs', continues
Watson, who admittedly has found himself tearing up in the studio upon becoming
so emotionally involved in a song. 'Oh yeah, man, exactly. I
really pay attention, to the point where when I'm singing, I can even feel goose
pimples. That's when I know I've got it right where I want it. I've
done that many times. It's sorta like a movie, you gotta get in there and
live that song every step of the way, and believe every word you're singin'.
That's when you know it's the right song and it really pays off'.
Watson, 66, pauses, then adds, 'The great Red Sovine told me one time,
'Gene, let me tell you something. If a song is funny, don't be afriad to
laugh, and if it's sad, don't be afraid to cry'. He'd done both and I've
done both'.
The Texas native notes that it was a special treat recording with Trace Adkins
on 'We've Got a Pulse'. 'Believe it or not, Trace and I have been
friends a long time. I knew him before he had a contract. So I call
him up and say, 'I have this song I like, but I really need somebody who can get
the attention of the younger set, to let the overall public know what it's all
about, and who better than you?' It was a favour and he said, 'Man, I'd be
honoured to do it'. So he came over to the studio, listened, and just gave
us all the time we needed. But we also had a ball doin' it. I think
the world of Trace anyway. And he's got such a good heart'.
The song's in the vein of 'Murder on Music Row', a duet popularised by Alan
Jackson and George Strait, which laments the loss of a traditional country
sound. Trace and Gene's take is an in-your-face insistence there's still a
lot of life in hardcore, hell-raisin' country music a la 'We've Got a Pulse'.
Another notable guest on Watson's latest CD is Alison Krauss. 'She
sang background vocals for us, you know vocal harmony for me.
Unfortunately, I couldn't be there when she was, as we were workin' the road.
I wish I could have, as she's so special, such a great artist'.
We talked about three other cuts, first the title track, 'A Taste of the Truth'.
'That song's written by Rebecca Lynn Howard
and it's so real. It's a song about the grass is always greener on the
other side, until you get there and find out it's not. When I heard that
song, I was like Wow! There go the goose bumps again. The words that
she used just amazed me, I mean the way that she put it together. It's
just a great song and I didn't have to change nothin' in it. I was
impressed that she could write so well for a man to sing it'.
Then there's 'Three Minutes at a Time' co-authored by
Keith Stegall and
Tim Mensy, a true honky tonk cut.
'I tried two or three times to record that for albums before this, and for
whatever reason, it didn't make the cut. But I always loved the song.
This time we needed a 3/4 time song and I just decided this was the right time
to record it. I've had a lot of compliments on that song and appreciate
you saying you like it, too'.
He points out being by Stegall and
Mensy says a lot in itself: 'I often
said Tim can sell me a bad song. He's such a great singer himself and
sings a song so well on a demo, I get lost in his performance, until the song
doesn't matter, but he's a great writer, too, as is Keith'.
Why, more than three decades after it was first recorded by
Merle Haggard on his No.1 1976 LP
'It's All in the Movies', did Gene decide to revive 'I Know An Ending (When It
Comes)'?
'That one's written by Hank Cochran,
who's a fantastic writer, and I'm a Haggard nut anyway. I don't think he
ever recorded a song that I didn't listen to and usually learn, so this was no
exception. I'm the kind of guy who believes a good song is a good song,
whether it cam out yesterday or twenty or thirty years ago. If it's a good
song then, it's a good song today. I thought, too, this song is so old
that half the people hearing it won't remember it and sure enough, they didn't.
A lot of DJs think it's new. My piano player Jim Black, who used to be a
DJ, didn't remember it. I thought that interesting'.
Of the ten songs recorded for the new CD, did he find one that was more
challenging to sing in the studio?
'Yes, the one with Trace. It was harder for me to get into, because
it's completely different stylistically from what I usually sing. I
thought to myself, 'Boy I'm gonna have to do some work to get into this'.
I mean I knew what I had to do, but wasn't sure the best way to approach it,
until Trace, just kinda brought it all together for us. There's the part
that he put in there, 'This ain't no farewell party', which he added in the
studio. That's not in the song as written. Trace did that himself;
then, after singing it, he says, 'Sing it, Gene', and they left that in, too'.
Trace was alluding to Gene's 1979 classic 'Farewell Party'. Watson, who
has charted 50 singles and another 20 albums along the way, scored his sexy
breakthrough single 'Love in the Hot Afternoon', in 1975, a strong Top Five.
Quick follow-up hits were 'Where Love Begins', 'You Could Know as Much About a
Stranger' and tha three-hankie weeper 'Paper Rosie'.
Living as he does in Texas, wouldn't it be easier just to lay his tracks in a
Lone Star State studio?
'To me, Nashville's the place to record. Don't get me wrong, Texas has
all the technology that they got here and there are good players there.
But there's not the players I want, for instance (pianist) Pig Robbins used to
be a deal breaker for me. If I couldn't get him, I didn't record (he's now
taking it easy). For this album we went back and got some musicians who
played on many of my old hits, like (steel guitarist) Sonny Garrish, and you
can't get these guys in Texas. All the guys up here know me and how to
make a country record. If you go in there without a producer and say,
'Guys, we're gonna do this', and leave 'em along, you'll come off with a pretty
damn good production, because they're just so great at what they do. I
just enjoy the Nashville sound'.
Whatever the assignment in the studio, Watson wants only the best backing him.
One voice he appreciates immensely is that of
John Wesley Ryles.
'I have always admired John Wesley to the fullest', quotes the squinty-eyed
Watson. 'I think he's one of the unsung heroes here. Lord, look at
the people that's got records out that he's doing harmonies on. When he
sings with me, I've been told, even by family, that it sounds like I'm doing
harmonies with myself. I can't say enough good about him'.
Of course, he's the same artist credited with Top 10 singles 'Kay' and 'Once in
a Lifetime Thing'. Watson reflected on Ryle's previous pursuit of a
singing career: 'I talked to John about that several times. I mean
that song he had out, 'Kay' (1968), was a great, great record. I just felt
bad he couldn't get his career going onward...He was doing a good job'.
Gene charted his own first Billboard No.1, 'Fourteen Carat Mind', in 1981.
Other Watson standards include 'Should I Come Home (or should I go crazy)',
'Nothing Sure looked Good on You', 'You're Out Doing What I'm Here Doing
Without' and 'Got No Reason Now for Going Home'.
Musicians-in-the-know are aware that if you want to play in Watson's Farewell
Party Band, you have to be as proficient on stage as his instrumentalists are in
the studio. 'That's true. I want the musicians in my band to be
able to duplicate what I do on the record. Not overplay and certainly not
underplay, but let's do it like the record. I suppose a lot of musicians
might think they don't want to copy what someone else plays in the studio, but
that's the way it's gotta be. You know, when you're out there in front of
that audience, and you're doing one of your songs that they like, well, I want
to do it so it sounds as close to my record as we can get it. That's been
one of the compliments I've had throughout the years and I cherish that...no
playing studio tracks or lip-syncing and all that stuff that goes on nowadays,
not for me'.
Actually, Watson called his bandsmen into the studio back in the early 1980s,
for a pair of albums, 'Sometimes I Get Lucky'
and 'Little by Little', both of which fared well
chartwise.
Gene has been performing since he was thirteen, initially kickin' off with his
first group Gene Watson & The Other Four. He played Fort Worth's Cowtown
Hoedown. In 1965, Gene recorded for Tonka Records, an indie label, and led
the house band at the Dynasty Club in Houston. Meanwhile, he worked as am
auto paint and body repairman on his day job right up until after he landed his
Capitol contract.
Off stage, Gene's also been a reliable family man. Next year marks fifty
years ago that he married teen-aged sweetheart Mattie Louise, mother of their
two grown children, Terri Lynn and Gary Wayne, and they're now grandparents.
'I've got a granddaughter who's going to college now and she's in her
twenties; and a granddaughter by marriage who's in middle school. I've
been blessed'.
Management had him slated to make an Opry appearance the night of our interview,
but one aspect of his guesting didn't make him overtly exuberant.
'They have me singing Willie Nelson's 'On The Road Again' as part of their
Classic Country portion of the show', he cofides. 'I never have done it
before and don't care much for doin' it. That's not me. I think
about it and I can't make that a Gene Watson song. But that's what they're
doin' these days at the Opry and I'll do it'.
Does he ever tire of guest shots, making appearances and doing media interviews?
'Oh no, this is fun. But, of course, it's a job; everything's not
meant to be hunky-dory. To build a good house, you've gotta have a solid
foundation, and that's what this is all about. I think it's the least that
I can do, make appearances (on shows like Crook & Chase, WSM's Bill Cody
broadcast) and talk to guys like yourself. You've all helped me build the
foundation and I feel the least I can do is get back with you all. That's
part of it. If my record company and my management company are gonna work
this hard for me, then I need to do something, too. That's a small task.
Hey, I do interviews from my car and over-the-phone chats all kinds of ways.
I don't mind it when time permits. Especially with someone like you, who
knows about me and what's going on'.
In 2001, Gene found himself battling cancer and despite an exhaustive treatment
regimen, he continued to nurture his career. Today, he's looking fitter
than at our last chat two years ago.
'I'm doing real good, though I am trying all kinds of things to get some of
this weight off. But I've had all my checkups and exams and they tell me
I'm fine'.
One wonders how he maintained that terrific tenor throughout his ordeal?
'The key to it, I think, is staying as healthy as you can. A lot of
singers don't act like they care what they sound like now. It's what they
used to sound like that's gonna carry 'em through with their fans. Well,
it don't work that way with me. I want my voice to sound as strong as I
can possibly make it. I have to feel like I'm doing the job, so when I
smile, it's for real'.
Watson feels he has an obligation to fans to do his best.
'I still try to sign autographs and show the fans as much appreciation as I
can. I'm truthful with them. That is, I listen to what they have to
say and pay attention to their feedback, so I'll know what they want. I'm
not exactly going into the studio blindfold when I record. That's why it's
always country'.
A pick-up man, Gene shares with us that he had just purchased a new Chevy truck
that has only 31 miles on it, so he's anxious to get back to Texas and drive up
the mileage. He also assures us he's still a vintage vehicle collector.
'Yes, I've still got my '83 Monte Carlo SS and the GMC pick-up with a
Pontiac engine', he laughs. 'Yeah, they're sitting over in my
shop, and I crank 'em up every once in a while. That's another of my first
loves, cars'.
What's the best truck out there?
'Chevrolet's always been the best for me. You know I'm an independent
dealer myself. I was driving a Nissan Titan before...but I've always been
a Chevy dealer'.
The 'Gene Watson: Tailgate Party' interview was conducted by Walt Trott at
the Nashville offices of John Lytle
Management on Thursday 10 September 2009 & was published in the November
2009 issue of the UK's UK's highly influential & widely regarded
Country Music People
magazine.
Speaking of CMP, Gene Watson's
'A Taste of the Truth' was
awarded the accolade of 'CD of the Month' in the October 2009 issue of the
magazine and, courtesy of the publishers, you can read the review
here.
'A Taste of the Truth' on Shanachie
Records
is a significant Gene Watson release
& you can order your copy
here.
Credits
Walt Trott & Duncan Warwick,
Country Music People, UK
CMT (Country Music Television)
Shanachie Records
