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Dale Watson - Live in London, England
Dale Watson offers no apologies for keeping country music as real, grounded, and down-to-earth as country music can get and is supposed to be. You won't find any false surface gloss over Dale's magnetic live performance only country music as country music is supposed to be. This is the real deal, wrapped up in a tight, solid package of talented dynamite. Dale Watson carries a powerful voice in a small package; a thin, intense, honest man who wears his emotions, faults, and failings right on the top where everyone can see them, and he displays all that clearly and painfully honestly in this live performance, captured over two nights at London's "The Borderline," an area where real country music is deeply appreciated and where Dale Watson is the star he ought to be in his own country.
There are 21 tracks on this live disc, each one an absolute winner. Dale does not offer any filler in his shows, and does not hold back when he plays. He offers a warning for his live shows: "The music contained in this show contains lyrics about honky tonks, truck driving men, drinkin', cheatin', and other topics considered to be too provocative for today's candy-assed country music." He means it. While he will sing a country love song, it will never be anything light or fluffy. Dale demonstrates what he means from the top of the show, kicking off with his plaintive cry to country radio, "A Real Country Song." The bulk of Live in London consists of Dale Watson originals, such as "Can't Be Satisfied," "Legends (What If)," "Heart of Stone," "Nashville Rash," "I Hate These Songs," "Turn Off the Jukebox," "How To Break Your Own Heart," and "Country My Ass," but he also salutes his idols with covers of "Mama's Hungry Eyes," "I Got Stripes," and his swingin' version of "In The Jailhouse Now" (which he performed on the Webb Pierce Caught in the Webb tribute disc).
Backed by only his own tremendous guitar playing, the amiable Ricky Davis on pedal steel, talented Billy Dee Donahue on bass, and Scott Matthews on drums, Dale absolutely shines. He shows how simple and sublime country music really is, and should be, by giving solid entertainment without having to resort to flash and spectacle. When Audium re-mixed the live cuts for this release, Hank III came in to add his remarkable pipes to the background vocals for "Country My Ass," which was a fun change from the original raw release (the Continental release, "Preachin' to the Choir," available only as an import, was never mastered; it was produced "as is" from the soundboard). It is really the only alteration that was done, and not an unwelcome one. It's the simple truth that talent like Dale Watson's doesn't need much mixing just throw it in and enjoy it. This is country music.
Review by Kathy Coleman.
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