Gene Watson Music

Album Sleeve Notes
'Gary Gene Watson never intended on a career in music.  When you take a look at the tracks on this 'Ultimate Collection', it becomes evident his absence would have left a gaping hole in country music, for as one of Nashville's premiere country journalists, Robert K. Oermann, has said, 'The world stops spinning when he sings'.

So, while, Watson says, 'I never did go looking for music, music found me', music was obviously destined for this unassuming man born in Palestine, Texas, and raised in Paris, Texas.  But because he took his singing in church, and with his 6 siblings, for granted, never considering that it could be a profession, to this day it is difficult for him to trace the origin of his realisation that indeed it would end up being the crux of his life.

'As far back as I can remember talking, I can remember singing.  My brother, just younger than me, played lead guitar and I was the singer, and we would entertain at a lot of the school functions and local get-togethers.  But music was never one of my goals.  All I ever dreamed of was working on cars', says Watson, who still enjoys dabbling on cars in his little shop in Houston.

By 17, he was married (still is, to the same woman he married in 1961), and had to lie about his age to get a job building missile silos in Abilene.  Five years later, in 1966, Watson moved to Dallas where an uncle helped him get his first professional job as a singer at a club called The Palms.

Still, he didn't take the possibility of making a living at music seriously, until moving to Houston where he formed a band called Gene Watson & the Other Four, dropping the Gary from his name.  'I got tired of everybody calling me Larry and Gerry and all of that', he says with a laugh.  'So I decided to just use my middle name.  And even then, people were bad about thinking my name was Eugene, which it's not'.

There were lots of lean times, living hand to mouth, apartment to apartment, but finally, right after he put a new band together, he got his first big break in 1974.  Managers Roy Stone and Russ Reeder saw the band called the Hailball Express, in honour of the '72 Ford he drove, pitted by hail stones, or 'hailballs', as locals called them, and approached Watson to record locally, and finally in Nashville.

When the two managers split, Stone chose to take the masters they had recorded and Reeder was happy to assume full management of Watson, whose desire was to record only in Nashville.  He and Reeder formed Resco Records, named for a one-stop distributing company Reeder owned called Record Service Company, for which Watson recorded 'Bad water', a song previously done by Ray Charles' background singers, The Raylettes.

It was his first charted single, although he only remembers it was 'way down there', but more important is that it drew the attention of a Capitol Records executive who flew to Houston to check out the singer.  A five-year recording contract was the result of that fateful meeting.

Watson had already recorded 'Love in the hot afternoon', which had just been released on Resco, when he signed with Capitol.  The song, previously recorded by several others, including Jim Ed Brown, became a regional hit.  'Everyone else had changed the lyrics around where they felt there would be a chance of playing it on the radio.  Back in '74, that was a pretty spicy song for airplay.  It kinda scared me, I have to admit.  When we went up to record it, I told Russ, 'We may never get this thing played on the radio, but if I'm going to record it, I'm going to record it exactly the way it was written'.  It took off like a house on fire'.

But, Watson explains, the Resco-issued single hit a very large region including Texas, Louisiana and Oklahoma, so by the time Capitol re-issued it on their own label with a sleeve that said 'Rush', it had already become huge in that market and was beginning to descend.  Ultimately, that thwarted the song from going to the top.

'Because it had already hit No.1 in so many areas in the South, and was already on its way down, by the time it was going No.1 in the other areas, it could only get to No.3 in the nation'.
No.3 right out of the gate was still no small accomplishment, and 'Love in the hot afternoon' was also pronounced the No.4 song for the entire year of 1975.  All of a sudden Watson had a career!

'I was scared to death', he admits now with a laugh.  'I was thinking, 'What am I going to do next?' That's always been one of my quirks - it's not what I have out right now, it's what am I going to come up with next?  I'm a stickler for material, and while I've always had the freedom to pick and choose my own material, it's always been a heavy burden on my back.  Even though Russ Reeder was my producer, he never told me what to record or what not to record.  He might suggest something or bring me a song, but never once did he say, 'We're gonna do this'.  He worked inside the control room and I worked inside the studio with the musicians.

As far as the arrangements, 99% of that was my doings - I worked that up with the musicians', says Watson, who initially used such Nashville session greats as fiddle players Lisa Silver & Buddy Spicher ('He's the one who played that real neat fiddle ride on 'Love in the hot afternoon'), Lloyd Green and Sonny Garrish on steel guitar Junior Husky on bass, Tommy Alsup (guitar), drummers such as DJ Fontana, Buddy Harmon and Kenny Malone, and would reschedule his sessions if Pig Robbins (piano) was not available.  In the mid '80s, he began to use his own band in the studio.

After his explosive introduction to radio, life changed quite dramatically for the man who had never considered music a viable way to earn a living.  'I still didn't take it for granted, though. I thought, 'I got me this major recording contract with a big label', but I also had enough sense to know that they can drop you just as quick as they sign you.  So, instead of selling my (auto) tools, I rolled them in my garage.  Not for a minute did I forget how to work on cars, so if this didn't work, I could always go back to doing that'.

He never had to.  Not that it was easy, though.  Watson still remembers an early tour, opening for Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty.  'Of course they had their busses and I'm driving a four-wheeler', he says with a laugh. 'I'll never forget one night when I had driven until my eyeballs were about to fall out, trying to keep up with those busses - I spent my time catching up with them, stopping and fuelling up, and then catching them again, and Loretta said, 'Gene, why don't you take that car home and fly back.  We'll pick you up and you can finish the tour on my bus'.  We were in Lansing, Michigan, and I drove, non-stop, to Houston, parked that car, caught a plane and flew into Augusta, Maine.  They picked me up and I finished up the tour riding Loretta's bus.  We were so close, and the bands thought so much of me, that one night Loretta's band would back me up, and the next night Conway's band would back me up.  I was in hog heaven'.  Watson was able to find another winner in 'Where Love Begins', when, after a recording session one night, writer Ray Griff took Watson to his office to play him demo tapes.  Watson ended up recording several Griff compositions, including 'Between this time & the next time', also on this collection.

Watson wasn't so sure of Dallas Harms' 'Paper Rosie', though.  Frank Jones, head of the Capitol country division at the time, found the song in Canada where it had been the song of the year for its composer/singer.  Whereas, everyone who heard the song said it was a hit, Watson didn't hear it.
'There was just something about the way he did it and the way I heard it - it just didn't gel.  I've always felt that, no matter how good a song is, if it's not my song, I don't want to waste the song or my time.  But everyone kept saying, 'This is a great song', and I thought, 'This many people can't be wrong'. I went in and recorded it, but, just as I thought, it didn't suit me at all. I went back out on the road and was in my motel room in Chicago when I touched base with the office and Frank Jones said, 'Gene, I believe if you come back in and re-record this song, it'll be a smash'.

Because Jones felt so strongly about it, Watson gave it another chance and re-recorded it, this time with a flute part and re-examining of the song's lyrics and meaning.  'When I went back into the studio, the song was the same. I was what was different'.  Persistence paid off.  The second time in the studio, the production came together easily and its outcome pleased Gene and his fans, who helped take the song to the Top 5 of the country charts.

Sheer determination is responsible for Watson even hearing the demo of 'Fourteen carat mind', the first No.1 record of 1982, written by Larry Lee (RIP) and Dallas Frazier.  (Frazier also had a No.1 hit with the Oak Ridge Boys' 'Elvira' that same year.)  Watson recalls one night as the bus was going down the road, listening to a pile of tapes loaded in a huge box after signing with MCA Records.

'I had listened to tapes until my ear was about to fall off, and I finally got down to the bottom of the box where there was a reel-to-reel box.  I thought, 'Who in the world would send me a demo on a reel-to-reel tape?'  I had a reel-to-reel machine on the bus, I dug it out, blew the cobwebs off it, and I could hardly get it threaded up.  But I put this tape on that reel-to-reel recording, and I knew, within 16 bars, that it was a hit, and I had to record it'.

Around that time, Watson's entire appearance changed, from the slicked-back 'Elvis' look, to the longer haired, facial haired presence of today.  It was such a radical change, that it became the focal point of nearly every interview and article printed about Watson at the time.  Finally, he tells the story of how it happened.

'We were playing a place called Lake Norman, North Carolina, and all of a sudden, before I went on stage, here came two carloads of police and they were going to impound my bus.  I had no idea why.  They didn't know all the details, they were just there with their orders to impound the bus.  It turned out that there was a guy who had had me booked in North Carolina whose job I had to cancel because I was sick, under medication.  Someone told him I was playing somewhere else the same night, so he filed a suit against me, and there was a warrant that the first time I came into the state of North Carolina, they would seize my bus and take me to court.

The officers were kind enough to let us get a few changes of clothes and what instruments we could carry off the bus, and our next job was in New York City at the Lone Star Cafe', says Watson of the incident which was thrown out of court, but whose impounded bus engine froze, causing him to have to buy a new bus.  'I had to get airline tickets, and with all the ballyhoo going on, I forgot everything it took to shave with, so I said, 'What the hey', and I quit shaving and stopped getting my hair cut.  I don't know if it was in retaliation, or what, but the next time my fans went to buy an album, they didn't even recognise who was on the cover'.

But the music would not change - he would still give the public the same reliable Gene Watson sound they had come to expect, including 1983's 'Drinkin' my way back home', which Watson says halted high on the charts, due to protests from Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD), and 1984's 'Got no reason now for going home', which composer Johnny Russell pitched to Watson one night while they were both guests on Ralph Emery's 'Nashville Now' TV show.

'Johnny was one of my best friends in the music business and he said he wanted me to take that tape back to Houston, learn it, and come back to Nashville and record it.  I said, 'John, I'll listen to it', and he said, 'I can get anybody to listen to it.  I said go learn it and record it!'  We went out on the bus after the taping of the show, he played it for me, and I liked the song a lot, so I did exactly what he said'.

As Watson arrived at Nashville's Hilltop Studios to record 'Memories to burn', Ray Price was finishing up his session, and lo and behold, he was just completing his own recording of 'Memories to burn'.

'I never have been real long on intelligence', Watson says with a laugh.  'So we went on in and I said, 'We're going to record this thing just like if he never recorded it'.  But, in fact, what he did next was very intelligent.  Upon completion of the recording, he headed quickly to the offices of his new label, Epic Records, with the tape and said, 'You'd better get this out as quick as you can because one of the big boys just got finished recording it'.  They rushed it out.

Singer Leona Williams and guitarist Dave Kirby happened to drop by the studio while Watson was recording 'Cold Summer day in Georgia', and 'Leona jumped in there and sang harmony with me, and Dave Kirby sat down and played guitar on it, so that one has some good memories', Watson reflects.

It was at his next label, Warner Brothers, where he would chart the final three songs of this collection, including his last big country hit, 'Don't waste it on the blues'.

Having wrestled with a bout of colon cancer recently, undergoing successful surgery and precautionary chemotherapy, Watson is particularly thrilled to be able to reminisce about the legacy of music he never imagined contributing.

'I had no idea that I could rely on music to support my family', says Watson who has two children and one grandchild, as a result of his enduring marriage.  'And I owe all of it to the fans and the DJs and people who played and bought my music'.

Robyn Flans
September 2001

---

---

The 'Ultimate Collection' compilation was produced by Mike Ragogna.  The Executive Producer was Pat Lawrence and the Production Coordinator was Michele Horie.

Editorial assistance was given by Barry Korkin and Licensing was undertaken by Robin Schwartz.

The Head of Art Direction was Ilene Weingard, with Design by I Design Studio.

Photo Research for the 'Ultimate Collection' was undertaken by Geary Chansley/Chansley Entertainment Archives.

---

'Ultimate Collection'
Universal/Hip-O Records 112730 (2001)

Track Listing

1 'Love in the hot afternoon' •
Written by Kent Westberry & Vince Matthews (RIP)
Published by EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets

2 'Where love begins' •
Written by Ray Griff
Published by EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets

3 'Paper Rosie' ••
Written by Dallas Harms
Published by EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets

4 'Pick the wildwood flower' •••
Written by Joe Allen
Published by EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets

5 'Nothing sure looked good on you' ••••
Written by Jim Rushing
Published by EMI-Capitol Music Special Markets

6 'Between this time & the next time' *
Written by Ray Griff
Published by MCA Nashville / UMG Recordings, Inc.

7 'Maybe I should have been listening' *
Written by Buzz Rabin
Published by MCA Nashville / UMG Recordings, Inc.

8 'Fourteen carat mind' **
Written by Dallas Frazier & Larry Lee (RIP)
Published by MCA Nashville / UMG Recordings, Inc.

9 'Speak softly (you're talking to my heart)' **
Written by Steve Spurgin and J.D. Mendenall
Published by MCA Nashville / UMG Recordings, Inc.

10 'This dream's on me' ***
Written by Fred Koller
Published by MCA Nashville / UMG Recordings, Inc.

11 'What she don't know won't hurt her' ***
Written by Dave Lindsey & Ernie Rowell
Published by MCA Nashville / UMG Recordings, Inc.

12 'You're out doing what I'm here doing without' ****
Written by Bo Roberts & Allen Frizzell
Published by MCA Nashville / UMG Recordings, Inc.

13 'Sometimes I get lucky and forget' **** a
Written by Ernie Rowell & Bob House (RIP)
Published by MCA Nashville / UMG Recordings, Inc.

14 'Drinkin' my way back home' ♪
Written by D. Scaife, R. Scaife & P. Thomas
Published by MCA Nashville / UMG Recordings, Inc.

15 'Forever again' ♪
Written by Warren Robb & Dave Kirby (RIP)
Published by MCA Nashville / UMG Recordings, Inc.

16 'Got no reason now for going home' ♪♪
Written by Johnny Russell (RIP)
Published by MCA Nashville / UMG Recordings, Inc.

17 'Cold summer day in Georgia' ♪♪♪ †
Written by D. Knutson & A. Owens
Published by Sony Music Special Products

18 'Memories to burn' ♪♪♪
Written by Warren Robb & Dave Kirby (RIP)
Published by Sony Music Special Products

19 'Everything I used to do' ‡ †
Written by Ernie Rowell
Published by Sony Music Special Products

20 'Everybody needs a hero' # a
Written by Troy Seals & Max D. Barnes (RIP)
Published by Sony Music Special Products

21 'Don't waste it on the blues' ‡‡
Written by Sandy Ramos & Jerry Vandiver
Published by Warner Brothers Records, Inc.

22 'Back in the fire' ‡‡ a
Written by Rory Bourke & Mike Reid
Published by Warner Brothers Records, Inc.

23 'The jukebox played along' ‡‡ a
Written by K. Bell & C. Quillen
Published by Warner Brothers Records, Inc.