From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Mon Oct 7, 2002  1:17 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Dale Watson

DALE WATSON (By Jean-Marc Pezet)

Born Kenneth Dale Watson, 7 October 1962, Birmingham, Alabama

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Dale Watson grew up with honky tonk
blood in his veins. His father, Don, a marine, was a stone country fan
and has been a great influence on him. He used to run a small band,
singing classic songs such as "Don't Be Angry" and "Saginaw,
Michigan" and also had a single out called "Poor Baby" in the late 60s
on Chaparral Records.
Dale was in his early teens when the family moved to Pasadena, Texas.
Besides his father and his guitar playing brother Jim, Dale also drew his
country influences from watching the classic performers on the Grand
Ole Opry TV Show in the 70s. He wrote his first song aged only 14 and
first performed on a stage at 15 with his brothers Jim and Donny.
By 18, he had formed his first group, "The Classic Country Band" with
his brothers and they used to play small venues and honky-tonks in the
Pasadena area. This lasted only one year before they split, Dale
continued solo with a pick-up band.
He met Californian singer Rosie Flores when she came to Pasadena
and she suggested Dale to move to LA, then (in the early 80s) a hot
place for "new" traditional country music. Dale gave it a try and settled
permanently in LA in 1988 were he secured a gig at The Palomino
Club. He also became friends with James Intveld and met John
Jorgenson (from the Desert Rose Band) who helped him getting a deal
with Curb Records.
A Desert Rose-sounding single was issued in 1990, "One Tear At A
Time"/"I Can't Listen To The Radio" but the deal proved abortive as
Curb interest in the new singer was not very high. Dale's fate on the
label was sealed when he was involved in a bad car crash. However, a
second single "You Pour It On And I Pour It Down" was issued in 1991.
Dale then moved to Nashville, writing for a publishing company owned
by country star Garry Morris, but was soon very frustrated by the
current Nashville country scene (he later sang about this in "Nashville
Rash"). Around this time, it was through his friend James Intveld that he
was able to make an appearance in the movie "A Thing Called Love",
playing the role of a guitar player name Dale (!) along with James on
bass (that should be seen though!). Dale returned to LA, staying there
until 1993 when the earthquake prompted him to finally move to (real)
Music City, Austin, Texas.
He already had contacts in Austin, namely Craig Pettygrew (formely
bass player with this other seminal band The Wagoneers), Jesse Dayton
and Chris Wall. He soon formed a band and started playing all the
honky tonks and beer joints around. He also had a steady spot at the
Little Longhorn, making the Thursday nights true honky tonk heaven.

In 1995, after 15 years on the honky tonk roundabout, Dale finally
released his first album, the highly acclaimed "Cheatin' Heart Attack" on
Hightone Records. It features traditional honky tonk music in the style
of George Jones, Buck Owens, Johnny Bush and Merle Haggard.
Two more exceptional CDs followed on Hightone, "Blessed Or Damned"
in 1996 and "I Hate These Songs" in 1997.
Leaving Hightone, he issued a cassette of trucking songs in the true spirit
of the genre "The Truckin' Sessions". Issued on Koch in the States, it
has been picked up by Dutch label Continental City which subsequently
issued "People I've Known, Places I've Been" in 1999, "Christmas
Time" in 2000 and a double live CD "Preachin To The Choir", recorded
live in London, in 2001.
But fate struck again when Dale's girl friend Terri Herbert died in an
automobile accident. Dale sadly tried to take his own life but managed
to overcome this tragedy with an album of songs dedicated to Terri
"Every Song I Write Is For You".

When I saw Dale live a few weeks ago, he put on a great show and
proved to be one of the best honky tonk singers around and a really
good guitarist to boot. He is in the same league as his heroes. If he
plays a beer joint near your home town don't miss him!

Web Sites:
www.dalewatson.com (official site)
www.terriherbert.com (dedicated to his fiancé)
http://members.ams.chello.nl/sjzuidem/daledisco.html (full discography)

Recommended listening:
all of them ! (see web site for details)

Dale's last effort is a 9 track tribute to Elvis, CD "Dalevis" recorded at the
Sun Studios. He proves that he is more than a honky tonk singer and
can handle real rockabilly as well.