Dale Watson

Dale Watson's Labor of Love

"I hope these songs touch the hearts of those who've known love, and those who've loved and lost realize they are not alone. Yes, its a love song album, with no apologies."

On the night of September 15th, 2000 Terri Herbert fell asleep at the wheel while on her way to meet her fiancée, Dale Watson, in Houston. She died on the scene.

"For four months, I was stuck on the same day of Terri’s auto accident, it was like the first day, every day, all day long" he recalls. "I was a record with the needle stuck in the groove."

Dale lived those four months with virtually little sleep, consumed with grief, his emotions found their release through his music. "The songs that are on the album came pouring out really quickly as a way of coping. I wrote ten of them within a three week period." The combination of all -consuming grief and lack of sleep soon caught up with him. "I was doing okay when I was recording and writing. I did the ten song CD, just for myself. I recorded it, and then while waiting for the CD to press, that’s when trouble came. I didn’t have an outlet anymore."

On December 28th, Dale was found by his road manager in an Austin hotel room, having consumed a nearly lethal combination of alcohol and pills. He signed himself into a state hospital and was released early in the New Year after undergoing REMDI, a treatment he calls 'miraculous'. "I was in a post traumatic disorder that I had to get treatment for. Not knowing what that was, not even knowing I was in it, is what made it so tough. When you don’t get REM sleep, (rapid eye movement) you're sleep deprived. The therapy's only been around for 10 years, I’m not real sure how it works but it pretty much synchs up your left brain with your right brain, through eye movements." he explains "That’s what happens when you when you go into REM’s, you synch up the days so that you can cope with the kind of day you had. If you don’t get REM’s you aren’t coping with the day. That’s what happened to me for four months."

"The treatment only took 20 minutes. It takes some people a few treatments, but I only needed one. It felt like the weight was lifted off of my shoulders. It’s an amazing treatment. It got me over the hump. It synched me up where I could get on with grieving in a normal fashion."

Moving from a point where grief and anger had turned inward, Dale felt a need to reach out to others, and share not only his experiences, but his love for Terri. The result is a poignant creation, unlike anything else you'll find in country music. Love songs from one man for one woman. Dale candidly explores and shares a range of emotions, progressing from absolute despair, to hopefulness, then to appreciation and acceptance. "When you go through something like this, when you lose somebody you love, you have that time when you’re angry, angry with the situation, angry with God, angry with the person that passed. The song “I Deal With The Devil’ where you’d do anything to have them back, that’s natural, but all of it settles in the hope that your love lives on. Just because they’re gone doesn’t mean they are gone, they still live on with you. There’s a lot of comfort in that. It was a labor of love, of course by me, but all the musicians knew Terri as well. It was a special feeling in that session you know, it really came across in recording. This is an appreciation of what we had."

Although he had other projects in the wings that could easily be defined as more 'commercial', Dale approached Audium and asked them to allow 'Every Song I Write For You' to be released first. "I really wanted this record to be the first record out, and Audium stood behind me. Whenever somebody, and I'll have to catch myself too, says Nashville’s putting out the same old formula records, I’m going to have to stop and say ‘Hey, you’re not talking about Audium, because they are taking a chance for doing something different here."

The street date for the release isn't until July 24th, but already the messages contained within the songs have made an impact on people's lives. "This record is helping people and that’s what makes this different. I have never gotten that much e-mail in response to a record. People come up to me and I can feel the love off of them and feel that they were helped by the music that came off the record. I mean literally helped them in their circumstance. It’s a real common ground I feel with this record, it touches people in a way that I’ve never been in touch with them, and I like it. I think its what we’re meant to do on this earth."

"When I do radio interviews and they play some songs off the record, I later check my e-mails and each time it’s been played there’s an e-mail from somebody. One of the best e-mails I got was from this guy who’d had an argument with his wife, not a big thing, just a spat, and he had left the house that morning, gave her the cold shoulder. He was at work and he listened to the music and the stories and 'Your Love I'm Gonna Miss' is the one that he last heard. He started feeling really bad about the way he had handled that situation and it made him appreciate her. He just wanted to leave work right now and go hug his wife and tell her that he loved her. That’s what this music is about to me, identifying with the people. I’m in a good place with it."

Picking up more adds to radio than he expected, Dale is still fully aware that country radio may shy away from the honest emotions the songs evoke. But his message to country radio is clear, play the songs for the song's sake. "Don’t play this record for the record company to make money, to make me money, it’s not a money thing. I don’t want to say it’s a service, I don’t want to make it sound like I’m something special, I just think this record is something special."

Highlights:

Every Song I Write Is For You: "Terri always told me she wanted me to write a song for her. But now since the accident it seems like every song I write is for her." The depth of raw emotion is palpable as Dale's deep baritone voice sings "Every time I write 'love' down on paper, It's like scratching your name into my heart"

You're The Best Part Of Me: The Merle Haggard influenced jazz-blues song will be the first single and video of the album. It was written on stage during the first show he played after the accident, a wedding. "I told my band to get in the key and follow along and I made it up on stage. I was thinking about me and Terri and realizing all that I gained instead of what I lost."

One More For Her: "My fondest memory of us together was when we were in Spain, last summer. Our host gave us a bottle of Spanish wine and I told her not to open it until we were able to be together for good. When she died, I opened it myself."

You Love I'm Gonna Miss: Describing a typical day in their short life together, the song's repetitious arrangement adds to the song's message. "The every day routine, you don’t think about it but later you do when the person’s not there"

Money Can't Buy Her Love: This up-tempo tune came as the result of another wedding gig. "I had to do a lot of weddings right after this accident and that was really tough. I looked out at the bride and thought what a great-looking bride Terri would have made."

With steel guitars echoing its 'cut to the chase' brand of honesty and raw expression, 'Every Song I Write Is For You' is much more than a collection of tragedy-laced love songs. Beyond the personal healing it provides for Dale, the album stands on its own as a touching celebration of love. "The beautiful thing about it for me is that I’m able to say things that I never got to say to her. If I had a chance to talk to her again, I would have said these things. Even though she knew, that’s what the beauty about this is for Terri. And hopefully I'll make people aware of what a wonderful person she was."

"I know that this is the best record I’ve ever done, the best songs I’ve ever written. I don’t think I can aspire to anything better than this record because it means a whole lot, its not just product. Other stuff that I put out could never have the dimension this record has."

While concentrating on taking life one day at a time, how does Dale imagine his future? He points to the album cut, 'I See My Future'. "It's a true story about a guy named Sonny in Austin. He was looking at a picture, I saw him and he had tears in his eyes. He saw me and he got a big old smile, trying to cover up that he was crying. He said ‘This is Rose’, his wife had died. He’s really a happy go lucky guy and I just see myself in that guy, I’ll always remember Terri and have moments like he has."

Country music has always been about real emotion and stories of life's triumphs and tragedies. If you only purchase one CD this year, make it this one. Real country music with substance and purpose. It doesn't get any more real or better than this.

July 2001 - Laurie Joulie - Take Country Back

Visit Dale's official website: www.dalewatson.com

You can purchase 'Every Song I Write' at CDNOW

Main Page