LimeWire Music Blog

Ask Alan Jackson. Ask Joe Nichols. For that matter, ask any of today’s top traditional country singers, and they will likely cite the name of Gene Watson when talking about singers that have influenced them. How does that make the veteran Country singer feel? “Well, it’s so flattering,” the singer tells LimeWire Music Blog. “It makes you feel good that you would have someone that you think is so great as Joe or Alan. It makes you feel good that they at least gave a listen to what you’ve done.”

Thirty-four years after Watson first hit the charts with the spicy “Love In The Hot Afternoon,” people are still listening…and he’s still singing. In fact, he’s sounding as great as ever. He has just released A Taste of the Truth, his second release for Shanachie Records, and the results are as impressive as always. The former mechanic gets as excited as ever about the recording process. “Yes, I do. I worked real hard on this album, trying to find the best material I can possibly obtain, and I think I’ve got some great material on it. I think I’m more excited about this album than any of them in a long, long time.”

As always, Watson had a nice selection of songs from which to choose from for A Taste of the Truth. “I’ve been fortunate in that respect,” he says with a smile. “It seems like when I start getting ready to record, all the songwriters come out of the wood work, and I’m so grateful they open their catalogs to me, and they tell me to take what I want. That means so much when you’re looking for material. You can go through a lot of songs, and it doesn’t do any good to record an album if you don’t have the right material.”

A Taste of the Truth features plenty of top-notch material, such as the title cut, written by one of Music Row’s most underrated talents, Rebecca Lynn Howard. “I love this song,” he says. The first time I heard it, it was Rebecca singing it. She sings so good she could make a bad song sound good, but not so in this case….she wrote it, and she knocked it out.”

“I’ve been extremely fortunate in keeping the truth in my career. I appreciate the fans. I don’t think they get enough appreciation for how valuable you are. It doesn’t make any difference how many times you play it on the radio — if people don’t like it, it’s not going to go anywhere…so I take pride in my fans. I sign autographs, shake hands and take pictures, anywhere that time permits. They’ve stuck with me through thick and thin…I love them all — here and abroad.”

Another cut on the album that has a tie to one of today’s biggest stars is “We’ve Got A Pulse.” The song is one of reassurance to fans of hardcore country music that there’s still some being made — even today. “I came across this song, which is kind of a retaliation to ‘Murder On Music Row.’ I don’t think country music has been murdered. It’s a little harder to get it played on some stations and everything, but I thought this was a great idea, but I needed a heavy hitter to help get it out to a younger set, so I called my buddy Trace Adkins, and told him what I had, and asked him if he’d come into the studio with me, and he said he’d be honored to. I think the people are going to like this song, because it says how I feel. It’s the sermon I’m preaching.”

His musical sermons have been going out to a receptive audience for many years now. Whether it be here in the U.S., or abroad in countries such as England or Ireland, his fan base is large — and he appreciates each one. “I’m thankful for that,” he says. “I’ve been extremely fortunate in keeping the truth in my career. I appreciate the fans. I don’t think they get enough appreciation for how valuable you are. It doesn’t make any difference how many times you play it on the radio — if people don’t like it, it’s not going to go anywhere…so I take pride in my fans. I sign autographs, shake hands and take pictures, anywhere that time permits. They’ve stuck with me through thick and thin…I love them all — here and abroad.”

The first single from A Taste of the Truth will no doubt strike a chord with fans. Watson teams up with bluegrass queen Rhonda Vincent for the very traditional “Staying Together.” It was a song he almost turned down. “I went around that song because it was a duet, and then I thought ‘It’s such a great song, I hate to pass it up, and so my thoughts took me back to my last album where we cut the old Buck Owens song “Together Again.” I thought ‘My goodness, who better than Rhonda Vincent? I called her, and said I have found this great song and I asked her to come in the studio with me. She came into town, hopped off her bus, and came straight to the studio, and we recorded it, and thought enough of it that we released it as the first single, and just finished up a video of the song that I hope people will see.”

Working with Vincent is a treat in the studio, says Watson, because She’s for real. She sings. There’s no make believe–no having to fabricate anything. She’s just a fantastic singer. Her harmony is so great. She’s got such a broad range in her voice. The thing I like about her, besides her being such a sweet person — our voices blend so well together. I just like the way it comes together when we sing.”

The song is quite a musical moment, indeed. The story of a couple who are keeping their marriage alive for the sake of their children is one of those classic country ballads that have always had such an allure for the singer. Whether it be songs like “Farewell Party” or the 1996 chart record “Change Her Mind,” the Texan has always been attracted to the tear-jerkers. “Well, ballads have always been a weakness of mine. I’m an emotional singer. I think you have to climb into the song and be a part of it. You have to re-live part of it as you sing it. That’s what I try to do — I find myself just living these ballads. People say to me ‘To sing a song like that, you’ve almost had to have lived it.”Well, I didn’t in real life, but I did live them in the studio.”

Another song in that vein that Watson knocks out of the ball park is the Harley Allen-written “Still They Call Me Love,” which was a recent single for Ken Mellons. Of the tune, he says that “I passed over that song two or three times. For whatever reason, it never made the cut. I was talking to Dirk Johnson, my producer, and he was real high on the song. He said ‘I just think you could kill the song.” I had always liked it, even thought I had stepped over it. This time, I decided that my instincts can’t be all wrong, so we decided to record it, and I hope all the people out there like what we come up with.”

The lyrics of the song are very different. Written from the standpoint of love as a person, the song talks about the various emotions that love can make you feel…or go through. “I think it’s a real unique song. Who knows what Harley Allen had in mind when he wrote it. I thought it was so unique that it deserved to be heard.”

With A Taste of the Truth in stores, Watson’s main goal for the time being is to make fans aware that it’s out there. “We’re trying to get this album off the ground, and hopefully it will be accepted the way we want it to. We’re just going to try to stay healthy and keep working.” Any worries his fans might have about him hanging up his traveling shoes can be put to rest when he says that “retirement is the last thing on my mind.” Let’s hope that it stays that way!

For all things Gene Watson, log on to genewatsonmusic.com, as well as gene-watson.com.