Meeting Gene Watson

Sean & Lisa Brady met up with Gene Watson for a chat during his tour of Northern Ireland on Monday 4 August 2008; the conversation concentrated on Gene Watson's music & his career in country music, past, present & future...

Lisa & I had the pleasure of attending the UTV Country Festival on Sunday 3 August 2008 & enjoyed a feast of country music from Moore & Moore, Vernon Oxford, Stonewall Jackson, Nanci Griffith and Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder.

However, the artist I was really there to see & hear perform was Gene Watson, a man who has stayed true to the heart of traditional country music for the best part of forty years.  Gene was outstanding & was easily the star attraction at the festival.

The Farewell Party Band, with Corky Owens on steel guitar, Woody Woodruff on lead guitar, Todd Hines on drums, Steve Nelson on piano & Staley Rogers on bass guitar) are a crack team of musicians & ably assisted fellow (FPB) member Clinton Gregory when they graced the stage between 4.25pm & 4.35pm.

When he delivered two classic Merle Haggard songs ('The bottle let me down' & 'A place to fall apart'), Clinton Gregory proved that he needs to re-enter the recording studios soon in order to give us a new album.

Following Clinton's all-too-brief showcase of songs, Gene Watson stepped onstage to rapturous applause & effortlessly worked his way through his wonderful brand of traditional country music in a set that began at 4.35pm & continued through to 5.50pm.

It's true to say that traditional country music is safe in Gene Watson's hands as exemplified by his strong set of tunes as emphasised by the selection below:

Gene Watson Playlist
1 ‘Should I come home (or should I go crazy)’
2 ‘Where love begins’
3 ‘No trash in my trailer’
4 ‘Baby me baby’
5 ‘It’s not love but it’s not bad’
6 ‘This dream’s on me’
7 ‘Love in the hot afternoon’
8 ‘In a perfect world’
9 ‘Memories to burn’
10 ‘I don’t go around mirrors’
11 ‘Paper Rosie’
12 ‘Today I started loving you again’
13 ‘You gave me a mountain’
14 ‘I don’t need a thing at all’
15 ‘One and one and one’
16 ‘Fourteen carat mind’
17 ‘Farewell party’
18 ‘Pick the wildwood flower’ (encore)



Lisa & I had the pleasure of & meeting, and having lunch with, Gene Watson at his hotel on Monday 4 August 2008 between 11.30am & 1.20pm (Irish time).  What can we say!  Gene was a delight to be with & he was a true Texas gentleman.

It was (Gene's Day-to-Day Manager at Lytle Management, Nashville) Sarah Brosmer who suggested to me that Gene & I should have an opportunity to sit down together (while he was in Northern Ireland) & have a discussion about my fan website & piece together any segments of his life story that I felt were ‘missing’ from the online version of his biography.



My conversation with Gene Watson began with a discussion about the early days of his country music career & about the record labels that he initially recorded for.

It was my assumption that Tonka Records was the first label that Gene had recorded for back in 1965.  However, it turned out that I was incorrect with this information.

Sun Valley Records was the first record label that Gene recorded with & it was based out of Houston, Texas.  Gene informed me that he only recorded one 45rpm single for this label & that the single was released on a very local (Texas) basis around 1962; the 'a' side was 'If it's that easy' (LH-3184) & the 'b' side was 'Leading me on' (LH-3185).

I told Gene that I had received an email (on Tuesday 10 June 2008) from a gentleman called David Johnson in which he informed me about this 45rpm single release on Sun Valley Records.  I told Gene that David had informed me that he himself had this vinyl single in his record collection.

My conversation with Gene then turned to Tonka Records which, like Sun Valley Records, was based out of Houston, Texas & which was a label that Gene recorded a number of 45rpm singles for in 1965 ('If you can't come, just call', 'You're what's happened to me' & 'Please don't laugh at me').

According to the information displayed on these Tonka vinyl records, the first two tracks ('If you can't come, just call' & 'You're what's happened to me') were written by Gene, so I asked him if he'd composed many songs in the early days of his career & if he'd written any material in recent years.

Gene told me that he wrote a number of songs himself in the early days & that he recorded a number of these songs in order to try to get his country music career established.

Gene also told me that Tonka Records was owned by a gentleman called Gabe Tucker who was experienced in all aspects of country music as he had been a bandleader, trumpet player, singer, comic, manager, disc jockey & record label operator.  Gabe Tucker had also been involved with legendary artists Elvis Presley & Eddy Arnold.

Gene & I then spoke about his self-titled debut album ('Gene Watson') which was released on Wide World Records (WWS2002) in 1969.

Wide World Records had been established by Russ Reeder (a record distributor) & Roy M. Stone (a record store owner) & was based at 2817 Laura Koppe, in Houston, Texas (TX77016); Gene initially met Russ Reeder & Roy M. Stone around 1966.



I informed Gene that, when I spoke with Jim Black in Ireland on Sunday 9 May 2004, he had informed me that he (Jim) had played piano on the (Houston & Nashville) recording sessions for the 'Gene Watson' album on Wide World Records in 1969.  (I discovered - online- that Jim Black recorded an album for Stoneway Records called 'Piano Styling').

I asked Gene if he could recall any of the names of the other musicians who had been involved in the recording of his debut album.  Gene told me that he could remember some of the names who included Fred Hanna on steel guitar & Danny Ross on guitar.

(I discovered - online - that guitarist Danny Ross recorded the albums 'Flattop x Two' & 'Still on the Flattop' for Stoneway Records).

Gene couldn't recall any of the other musicians but he advised me to contact Jim Black; he was sure that Jim would be in a better position to remember the remaining musicians who worked on the 1969 recording sessions.

Initially, Gene's recording sessions for Wide World Records took place in both Houston & Nashville.  However, Gene told me that Roy M. Stone preferred that these recording sessions take place in Houston only but Gene insisted that he preferred to use the studios in Nashville.

As a result of these differences, Russ Reeder & Roy M. Stone both decided to go their separate ways.  When the two managers split, Roy was given all the masters that they had recorded with Gene and Russ was given Roy's part of Gene's recording contract.

As a consequence, Roy M. Stone re-released the 'Gene Watson' album on his own label - Stoneway Records (STY2002) - in 1973.

Things were changing for Gene at this time so I asked him about what happened next; he informed me that Russ Reeder owned a company called Record Service Company, so Gene & Russ formed a new record label called Resco Records.  It was Resco that released Gene's first successful 45rpm vinyl single - 'Bad water' reached No.87 in July 1975.

Gene told me that he now retains sole ownership of all the Resco Records masters, so I asked if he would ever consider re-releasing any of this fine material on CD.  Gene hadn't really thought about doing this, but he did say that re-releasing the material on CD could be an option to consider one day.



I then brought up the subject of those Gene Watson songs that have been included on various movie soundtrack albums.

I reminded Gene that 'Paper Rosie', one of his most successful singles for Capitol Records in 1978, had been included on the soundtrack of the 1990 movie 'Another 48 Hours', starring Eddie Murphy & Nick Nolte.

I also mentioned that 'Cowboys don’t get lucky all the time’, which Gene included on his ‘Beautiful Country’ album for Capitol Records in 1977, was included on the ‘Convoy’ soundtrack album in 1978.  The movie 'Convoy' had been directed by Sam Peckinpah, but as far as Gene was concerned, he believed that his recording had been included at the behest of fellow country artist Kris Kristofferson.

I then spoke to Gene about his recording of ‘Any way you want me’ which appeared on the soundtrack of the Clint Eastwood movie ‘Any Which Way You Can’ in 1980.  I asked Gene about who approached him to record the song & whether Clint made the final decision about Gene's inclusion on the soundtrack.  I also asked Gene if Clint Eastwood was familiar with his music prior to this time.

Gene stated that the song 'Any way you want me' had been originally recorded by the guy who wrote the song, a man by the name of L. Ofman; Gene had actually produced the recording, but when Clint Eastwood heard the demo, he wanted the track for his movie but stated that he wanted Gene to record it instead.

At this time (1980), Gene was on tour in Chicago, but upon hearing about Clint's request, he flew out to Los Angeles in order to lay down the vocal track for 'Any way you want me'.

Since a number of Gene's songs have been included on the soundtracks of these aforementioned movies, I asked Gene if he had had any aspirations to appear in a country music-related movie or if he had ever been approached to do so.  Gene responded by saying that he had never been approached to appear in any movies & that it had never been his desire to do so.

On Tuesday 25 September 2007, Gene Watson saw the release on Shanachie Records of his highly acclaimed ‘In a Perfect World’ album with special guests Joe Nichols, Lee Ann Womack, Connie Smith, Mark Chesnutt, Rhonda Vincent & Vince Gill.

I asked Gene that if he had the opportunity to record with other artists, or undertake a duets album, who would he choose to record with; Gene responded by stating that recording with all of the aforementioned artists had been a wonderful experience & that Rhonda Vincent's contribution to the set completely floored him.  Gene said that he would dearly love to record with her again.

Gene & I then returned to the subject of his song-writing; I reminded him that he recorded the song ‘Somewhere over you’ & included the track on his ‘Back in the Fire’ album for Warner Bros. Records in 1988.

I reminded Gene that he obtained a song-writing credit (with Dave Lindsey & Jim Rushing) for this song, so I asked him about his contribution to this track.

I informed Gene that I had received an email from Dave Lindsey (on Saturday 15 April 2006); in this email, Dave told me that, upon receiving a copy of the song, Gene requested that he be given the opportunity to rewrite the chorus.  I asked Gene if this was true & Gene responded by saying that it was.  Gene also said that he felt that the chorus could have been stronger, so he asked Dave & Jim if he could rewrite the chorus.

Both Dave Lindsey & Jim Rushing agreed to this and, as a  result, Gene received a song-writing credit on the track & a share of the royalties.



I next spoke to Gene about his contribution to the Ernest Tubb tribute album 'The Legend & The Legacy', which was released on Pete Drake's First Generation Records label in 1979 and asked whether or not he had recorded more than the two tracks I knew about (‘Yesterday’s winner is a loser today’ & Willie Nelson’s ‘Sad songs & waltzes’).

Gene responded by saying that it had been his intention to record just one track for this tribute album (Willie Nelson’s ‘Sad songs & waltzes’) & that he was later asked to contribute to a second track (‘Yesterday’s winner is a loser today’).

Gene also said that Ernest Tubb thought the world of Gene & stated that he would do anything to help Gene's country music career.

I then mentioned that Gene had recorded ‘Silver bells’ with George Jones, a track that appeared on ‘The Nashville Christmas Album’ in 1991.  I asked Gene if it was true that his 'Honky Tonk Crazy' album for Epic Records in 1987 had been intended to be a duets album with George.

Gene responded by stating that it was true; songs had been selected & studio time had been booked, but contractual reasons prevented the album project from going ahead as planned.

I informed Gene that one of the tracks planned to be included on this duets album was ‘Too gone too long’, which was subsequently submitted to Randy Travis; Randy's version became a No. 1 Billboard country hit for him in 1988.

The next question I asked Gene was with regard to the songs ‘Old porch swing’ & ‘Class reunion’ which were originally included on his ‘In Other Words’ album for Broadland Records/Mercury Canada in 1992.

I wanted to know why these tracks were also included on his ‘A Way to Survive’ album for Step One Records in 1997.

Gene responded by saying that he did not know why those tracks were used for a second time, but he did let me know that these tracks contained backings that had been re-recorded.

Gene & I then discussed the song ‘Pick the wildwood flower’ which was included on his 'Reflections' album for Capitol Records in 1978.

I knew that the song had been written by Joe Allen but I wanted to know if the song had intended to be autobiographical in nature as it clearly mentions Gene's first name which is Gary.

Gene replied by stating that writer Joe Allen had recoded the track first time around & that he had included his own name (Jody) within the song & where Joe had referenced the city of Denver, Gene had substituted it for Houston.

It was this point in our meeting that Gene spoke fondly of writers who had made a lasting impression upon not only him but his country music career, writers such as Joe Allen, Dave Kirby (RIP) & Warren Robb.

I reminded Gene that Tony Booth had written ‘One too many times’ (‘No One will Ever Know’, 1980), Larry Booth had written  ‘Lonely me’ (‘Old Loves Never Die’, 1981) & ‘My Memories of You’ (‘Little by Little’, 1984) & Joe Eddie Gough had written ‘Beautiful you’ (‘Should I Come Home’, 1979), ‘After the party’ (‘Should I Come Home’, 1979) & ‘I’m telling me a lie’ (‘Between This Time & the Next Time’, 1982).

I then poised the question: did Gene encourage his Farewell Party Band members - mentioned above - to write songs for him?  Gene responded by stating that, in most instances, he had heard the writer performing the song in a club & was so impressed with the quality of the writing that he then decided to record the song in question.

On Tuesday 25 September 2007, Gene Watson saw the release on Shanachie Records of his highly acclaimed ‘In a Perfect World’ album.

I told Gene that he & Lee Ann Womack had produced an exquisite rendition of Merle Haggard’s ‘Today I started loving you again’.

I reminded Gene that, on Friday 1 September 2000, while gracing the hallowed stage of The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, he had stated that Merle Haggard could get more out of a phrase than anyone & that he would love to record with Merle.

I asked Gene if he would like to record with Merle; the answer was an emphatic 'yes' & that one day he would love to achieve this goal.

As my time with Gene was drawing to a close, I stated that his 'From the Heart' album, which was released on RMG Records in 2001, featured beautiful mandolin & fiddle work from Aubrey Haynie.

I felt that, as well as being a traditional country sounding album, 'From the Heart' also has an acoustic feel about it.

I asked Gene if he had ever considered recording a bluegrass-flavoured album or bluegrass versions of his greatest hits.  Gene responded by saying that he was indeed open to the idea of recording such a project but that, since he is so stepped in traditional country music, he would have to get used to working with a dobro as opposed to steel guitar.

My time with Gene Watson was now drawing to a close so I informed him that, as a result of me emailing Jo Ashbridge (in December 2007) at Hump Head Country in England, she had taken onboard my idea of them releasing a compilation of Gene's fine work with MCA Records in the 1980s.

Gene Watson recorded for MCA Records between 1981 & 1985; Hump Head Country in England will release ‘Matters of the Heart’ which will include 20 tracks, 12 of which appear on CD for the first time.

Upon hearing this news & seeing a proof of the album sleeve on my computer, Gene was visibly delighted to see so many of his 'hard-to-find' tracks contained within this generous collection.

On Monday 4 August 2008, Gene, Lisa & I had a wonderful visit together for the best part of two hours.

I was delighted to have been given this unique opportunity to meet Gene Watson & speak with this fine artist.

Gene Watson has an amazing voice & over the years has held onto his musical integrity & has never compromised the music he dearly loves.  He was an absolute delight to spend time with & it was my pleasure to meet him.

I wish to extend a special 'thank you' to Sarah Brosmer at Lytle Management in Nashville without whose help & kindness this meeting would never have taken place.

I also wish to extend a special 'thank you' to Gene Watson for graciously allowing me to meet & spend time with him.

Source
Sean Brady, Webmaster, The Gene Watson Fan Site

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