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Track Listing:
"Here they call me too country, but country has done nothing short of lose it's identity. It's roots are firmly planted in mid air. In Europe, radio isn't shoving something down their throats In America, I play rock n' roll rooms instead of country rooms for the boot scootin' crowd. My audience makes up it's own mind and doesn't like to be told what to like."
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Dale Watson's been called just about everything: an impending savior of country music, an overlooked country great and one of country music's most outspoken neo-traditionalists. No doubt the man himself could add a few other descriptive adjectives to the list, but one thing's for certain, he is a rare commodity these days -- a real country singer. If you're looking for deliverance from today's indistinct, candy-coated country, then Dale Watson's "Live in London", just might be the reprieve you've been praying for. But make no mistake about it, Dale Watson isn't retro or alternative country. In fact his music simply defies the label, leaving the listener wondering why on earth should there even be an 'alternative' to the real thing. With more than a few tough roads to haul over the years, Easy Street definitely hasn't been on Dale's life road map. Despite the obstacles in his path, he's stayed true to the kind of music he makes, singing and writing with an authenticity that's lacking in much of the Nashville formula driven country being made these days. His rock solid musical convictions are clearly evidenced by the songs he writes and sings. Recorded in August of 2000 at London’s intimate but renowned country club, The Borderline, Live from London, England is a remastered, remixed version of Dale's European release, "Preachin' to the Choir." The third release in one year on Audium Records, the album was preceded by the critically acclaimed 'Every Song I Write Is For You' and the seasonal offering of 'Christmas in Texas.' If you're a Dale Watson fan and have already succumbed to the temptation and purchased the European release, there are more than enough significant differences to the album that you might want to seriously consider adding this one to your list as well. Dale's live show is a natural reflection of his hardcore honky tonk attitude and passion. With a solid mix of country classics and self penned tunes that country music fans haven't heard the likes of in far too long on country radio, the release pays homage not just the way country music was, but the way it should be. Although I've yet to have the opportunity to catch Dale's live show but there's a small red and white sign on the bulletin board above my desk that constantly reminds me of what I'm missing. Passed on from Dale via a friend, it reads in part like a warning to those who may be expecting a fluffier version of country music:
Thanks to Live from London...England, I feel one step closer.
Backed by his Lonestars
(Ricky Davis- steel guitar, Billy Dee Donahue - bass, background vocals
and Scott Matthews - Drums)
Live from London, England balances a
great mix of pure country music,
as Dale Watson proves it doesn't have to be fancy to be good. It just has
to be real. |
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"Preachin' To The Choir was right off the 2 track, it was right off the board. Dale recalls, "Of course, it was a good board. The people were great sound engineers, they did Tom Petty’s live albums so they knew what they were doing." Audium competently re-mastered the album on 24 tracks, adding in more than a few new songs, remixing music that was actually recorded over two nights, into one impressively cohesive project that flows with striking continuity. Dale Watson does what he does so well, it's hard to tell where the country classics stop and the original material begins. If there's a singer out there who has more respect for artists and music that have paved the path before him, I haven't met him. You've got to appreciate a guy who slides effortlessly from the unadulterated rockabilly of the Webb Pierce classic "In The Jailhouse Now" to the hardcore country emotion of Merle Haggard's "Mama's Hungry Eyes." Dale also taps into lesser known classics such as Wynn Stewart's Another Day, Another Dollar, Johnny Cash's I Got Stripes and Ray Price's Bright Lights and Blonde Haired Women. Never one to shy away from voicing his opinions, Dale's been noted to be more than a little outspoken on the topic of the music industry's focus on commercialism and subsequent watering down of country music. Arriving on the country music at an inopportune time, Dale's paid his dues the hard way -- while talent-starved wannabes make millions and top the charts with their looks and appeal. But overtime Dale finds that although he's not resigned to the current state of country music, he chooses to spend less time being 'angry' about it. In choosing to focus on priorities he's also learning to relax a bit on the business end of things. "The business end of it’s the ugly end of it to me. I don’t need to be making records, writing songs and worrying about the business end of it. Quite frankly I don’t have the mindset for it, I’ve got to be in it ‘cause that’s what I am in, but it’s so ugly I usually don’t try to get into it." "I’m not as combative as I used to be, as far as having to be a control freak, I’ve learned that I don’t need to be and now don’t necessarily even want to be, the guy in charge of the whole deal. I write the songs, and I sing them. That’s part of that whole soul searching thing you know I spend my energy doing other things. That goes with my outlook on country music today, where I used to be a lot more angry, it’s amazing how much changes in your life in such a short amount of time. I write those songs out of my own frustration. Like Country My Ass, Nashville Rash, or A Real Country Song. There was another one that I wrote right after they did that thing to George Jones on one of those award shows. I wrote a song right after that. You can’t help but do that as a writer, you write stuff that you’re provoked to. But like I said, as far as my attitude now it’s just, I live and let live, but let me live too kind of thing." A genuine highlight of the project is the thought provoking "Legends (What If), that is even more poignant when you realize we've already lost Tammy and Waylon since the song was written. Although, all in all, Dale's got a tremendous reverence for the legends, it doesn't mean he doesn't have an opinion on some of the going on's in country music today. "I don’t see these guys that I have revered all my life, I think George Jones may be the exception, trying to do anything to keep themselves out there in the first place, other than touring. Put it this way," he elaborates, pointing to recent collaborations with Kid Rock and Hank Williams Jr. as an example, "There’s a little bit of predictability in the marketing strategies, I doubt that any of these guys go home and listen to that music. In other words, it’s a little bit of selling out in my opinion. I hate to see that. I wouldn’t want to do a tour with someone, a band’s music that I wouldn’t listen to." "A lot of the legends that I grew up listening to, I still have got respect for that. I thank God they were there and they inspired me to be able to do kind of music they did. I love it, I love their music, but I hope I don’t get to that point." he says "It would be nice if everybody could remember the legends, but I think they have to remember them for the music they did not for the music they’re doing." After years of traveling from label to label, Dale's found the support his music's needs from a label that's fast gaining a solid reputation for daring to allow artist's a significant say in the creative mechanics of their music. In a gutsy, radio-defying move, Audium's made the decision that the album's first single will be a tune mainstream radio is guaranteed to ignore. In fact, "Country My Ass" was radio tested even before last year's release of Every Song I Write Is For You. Not surprisingly, radio stations tossed it back into the lap of Audium label head, Nick Hunter with a resounding negative response. Audium's persistence in assisting in getting out his music hasn't gone unappreciated by Dale. "Nick was definitely of the mindset to put that out as single. Nick’s way in the corner, he knows what’s going on, he knows what’s at the core of any fan base I have, and he’s there too." Joining in on the vocal mix of Country My Ass is honky tonk rebel Hank Williams, III, or Shelton, as Dale refers to him. Although Hank III's musical influences stem from a different place, it's the honesty of the music that gains Dale's respect. "What’s really odd that looks like all the things that Hank Jr’s done, Shelton’s going to pass him up. Shelton, his music, the way he does his punk stuff, he came from that punk thing. What he’s doing is real to himself, that’s what’s important to me. You‘re doing stuff that’s real and it comes from your heart and then when he does his honky tonk stuff you can tell that’s natural to him as much as that punk stuff." One things for
sure...real country music is natural to Dale Watson. When I slip in the
latest album in my changer, my mind automatically recalls a quote
made by the great, late
Waylon Jennings:
Only time will tell whether Dale Watson is one of the last of a dying breed or country music's savior, but it's a given that Dale Watson is doing his best to keep country music 'real' and alive. There are those who push to expand country music's boundaries and there are those that they don't have to because they sincerely appreciate and understand it's innate depth and diversity.
Check out Dale's official site for the latest tour dates! |
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Laurie Joulie Take Country Back
June 2002