(Emergent) Aaron Watson is Texas country music's newest kid on the block who's been receiving quite a bit of buzz recently. Born in Amarillo, Aaron was raised on country music, first starting out singing gospel songs in church, and later influenced by the likes of Willie, Waylon, Haggard and Jones. While attending college, he polished his singing and writing skills and hit the local honky tonk circuit where he earned a strong following.

Shut Up And Dance is Aaron's second full length release. He went into the studio, and along with his Orphans of the Brazos Band members Jim "Haystack" Novack (steel, electric guitar, dobro) and Eric Andrews (fiddle, mandolin), Aaron is also backed by musicians that include Rich Brotherton, Bill Whitbeck, Marty Muse and Lloyd Maines (who's also at the production helm). After completion, Shut Up And Dance was held up for a few months due to major label interest. However in the end, Aaron chose to remain an independent, and released the album on his Sonnet label, with national distribution by Emergent Music.

Shut Up And Dance kicks off with an infectious rocking honky tonker, "I Don't Want You To Go (But I Need You To Leave)" about a woman he'd love to live with, but who he realizes he has to live without for his own good. The uptempo cajun influenced two-stepper "Heaven Help The Heart," tells of a woman who's nothing but trouble to a man's heart. "Something With A Swing To It" is some first rate swing that delivers a snipe at today's faux country while running through a list of the things that separates it from what Texans consider country music. In the rocking "Some Never Will," Aaron provides some reasons for an emotionally uneven relationship. The honky tonker "Wrangler Butts" offers a humorous look at a lazy do-nothing loser who gets the girl even though he has nothing going for him but his looks. "Man On A Mission" is a terrific bluegrassy two-stepper, in which Aaron informs the object of his desire of his determination to win her over. The mid-tempo steel driven standout, "Wish I Could Say I'd Been Drinking," is about a man trying to figure out why he threw a love away.

Aaron delivers a few waltzes. The outstanding title track "Shut Up And Dance," is a poignant song about a couple focusing on their love rather than life's problems. "Notel Hotel" addresses that good old fashioned classic country theme of cheating in barroom weeper style. Another weeper, "Lonely Lubbock Lights" aches with the loneliness of a lost love. "Stuck Between A Rock And A Hard Place" is a highlight that tells the story of the heartache of a marriage that slowly died. This one's offered up twice on the disc, once in a steel driven full band version, and again closing out the disc in an acoustic version. Take your pick, both versions are first rate, though the starkness of the acoustic version emphasizes the loneliness and heartache to a slightly higher degree. The feelings about the disintegration of another marriage are told in "Off The Record." "Kentucky Coal Miner's Prayer" is another standout, a poignant bluegrass tinged look at the daily life of a coal miner.

Aaron Watson is well deserving of all the positive buzz going around about him. Shut Up And Dance proves him to be both a strong singer and songwriter who's updated the classic country sounds and themes and moves them into contemporary times with great adeptness, while remaining firmly rooted and true to tradition. With Shut Up And Dance, newcomer Aaron Watson has delivered a very strong effort packed with outstanding traditional country music.             

www.aaronwatson.com