Country Musings: Gene Watson
Country Musings: Gene Watson
Thoughts on random country artists that just happen to be on my mind at any particular moment.
Since I’m new to this platform, I’m rebooting a series from another space a few years ago, Country Musings. Nothing academic or earth-shattering, just short, stream-of-consciousness scribbling from my days as a country music DJ and PD. (There’ll be other dives into soul, blues, metal, jazz, etc., forthcoming. Consider yourself duly warned.)
Let’s kick it off with my five favorite Gene Watson songs.
Gene Watson, the country badass from Palestine, Texas, had a string of classic country hits perfect for barroom jukeboxes and honky-tonk bandstands. They could make you cry, cuss, fight, drink, smoke, and love. Sometimes all at once. Although some of his song choices could be questionable, more often than not, he unleashed plenty of pure country gold. And since everybody loves a list, here are my top five.
5. Love in the Hot Afternoon
One of the weirdest country songs of its time to hit the top five, it’s delightfully awkward and scandalously sexy, and I’ve never heard anything like it since.
4. Everybody Needs a Hero
I spun this record in my first full year as a country DJ, in 1987 (still a fantastic year for country music – I’ll delve deeper into that one day). It’s nothing original, just another young kid getting a lesson in life from an older, most likely Black, musician. (“Desperados Waiting for a Train,” “The Ballad of Curtis Lowe,” “The Year Clayton Delaney Died” – I could write a piece just on this sub-sub-genre, I suppose.) Gene’s performance seals the deal, though. Just the way he yells “Hell!” in the first verse. Nothing too deep, it just makes me smile.
3. Nothing Sure Looked Good On You
“When we were down to nothin’ / Nothin’ sure looked good on you.” From the pen of Jim Rushing. They don’t write ’em like this anymore.
2. Fourteen Carat Mind
Written by the legendary Dallas Frazier, and with apologies to Steve Goodman, John Prine, and David Allen Coe, this could be the perfect country-and-western song. The chorus takes it over the top: “Layin’ by these railroad tracks in Denver / with a hurtin’ head and a haif a pint o’ wine.” (Yes, you must pronounce it haif for it to work.) I still wonder what became of poor ol’ Willie Jackson.
1. Farewell Party
The ultimate self-pity party set to music. This one’s a cover of Lawton Williams classic that Little Jimmy Dickens recorded back in 1961, but for a generation of country fans, Gene’s is the one to beat.
This was a dear old friend of mine’s favorite song. He’s gone now, but he once got kicked out of a Gene Watson concert for being overserved and continuously yelling, “Play ‘Who Stole the Lock Off the Shithouse Door!‘” (Not a Gene Watson song, as far as I know.)
Getting bounced from a Gene Watson concert? Man, if that ain’t country…well, you know the rest.
Postscript: Although I love classic ACL footage, I chose to run with the video below mainly because I dig the sweater/gold medallion combo Gene’s rockin’.