Dale Watson - From the Cradle to the Grave

It's a sheer delight to know that with this release, From the Cradle to the Grave, Dale Watson is finally getting some airplay on GAC - and, to my utter shock, CMT (PURE). The video for "Justice For All" has started rotation already, and he's hosted a segment of Edge of Country to air in June. This is great, great news. I can't help but think that if people just HEARD Dale Watson, they would love him - the mystery of what has been keeping him out of the spotlight for all these years is one I cannot fathom, even with vague knowledge of how corporate radio works. It seems to me that if you want to make sales, you give people what they want to hear, and near as I can tell, people want to hear Dale Watson. It took me just one listen to go nuts for the guy, and I know a lot of others who were roped in the same way - just listen to the man sing, for Heaven's sake! It's a voice that, once you hear it, you will never be the same. This new release is no different from the last few Watson has released - nothing to complain about, everything to love. From the thundering, commanding words of the opening song, "Justice For All" - a song where he is truly channeling the ghost of Johnny Cash - until the final "Folsom Prison" riff of the closing, "Runaway Train," Dale Watson grabs his audience tight and he does not let up. His words and music take hold of the emotions, reach into the very soul, and wring out thoughts and desires and understanding in ways that the Man in Black himself could. Johnny would be proud.

Dale Watson, like many real country singers out there, has become disillusioned with the way people think about country music. The mainstream, Nashville-driven pop machine has an entire new generation-plus thinking that is what country music is and what it sounds like, and folks who sing like Dale are "retro" or "old-fashioned." Nothing could be further from the truth; hence new terms for the music, such as Americana - or, the new genre title Dale has given his own music, Ameripolitan. (He talks about it on his website, DaleWatson.com ) It's a bold move, to take on a brand-new genre and define it from scratch by yourself, but if anyone could do it, it's Dale Watson. So what's on the table for the brand-new genre? This tremendous disc, containing ten songs Dale "basically wrote . . . in three days," as he says, while working in a cabin in the Tennessee mountains - currently owned by pal Johnny Knoxville, but once the home of Johnny Cash. Watson wasn't setting out to emulate Cash, but there was no way to avoid the man's ghost while sitting in one of his former homes. Besides, it's neither a pastiche nor a copy - the songs have only the subtle flavoring of Cash's style. In the end, it's pure Dale Watson "Ameripolitan," featuring Dale's voice of thunder and powerhouse songs.

Now I'm going to go out on a limb here and I know there's those who are going to disagree with me or be shocked by this, dare I say it, but what really sets Dale Watson apart from Cash is, well, Dale's the better vocalist. I know, I know! Johnny's a legend and always will be, but the simple truth is Dale Watson has an absolutely magnificent singing voice, while back when Johnny was still charting singles on country radio (when I was a little girl), my Dad (a reasonable amateur musician with a strong ear) used to cheerfully call him "one-note Johnny." Oh, he loved his songs, there's no doubt, but as a vocalist, well... Anyway, Dale Watson doesn't need any tricks or flash, nor is he tweaked by electronic key modifiers - he just sounds that good. I've seen him perform a couple of times, and what you hear on that record is what you'll hear in the honky- tonks. Deep, rumbling, true tones every time. I don't think I've ever heard him hit a klunker or sound a sour note - and I'll admit I haven't seen him live that often, but I sure do have all his discs! From the Cradle to the Grave is yet another "ought to be a classic" from Dale Watson. His work is so stunning, so drop-dead real, it's painful to consider that folks aren't listening to him.