Dale Watson - 'Truckin' Sessions: Vol. 2'

Truckin' Sessions: Volume 2 Bottom Line:

Is country music dead? Not as long as Dale Watson can lift a guitar. You can call it whatever you want, Americana or American Roots Music or even Ameripolitan, but when it comes right down to brass tacks, this is country music. Not for nothing does Hank Williams III call Dale "the savior of country music." With a booming, commanding voice thundering from his deceptively compact frame, along with some seriously skilled guitar picking, Dale Watson is country music today, and a fitting successor to any of our lost greats, from Hank to Cash.

About Dale Watson

For well over a decade Dale Watson has been recording country music the way it should sound: raw, real, and to-the-bone, with no compromises and no apologies. He frankly despises the faux-pop sound that has permeated the mainstream "country" radio, on and off, pretty much since the late seventies. What he does like, and what he sings, is solid American roots music, country music, with that classic sound that characterized the roots music from its birth in the Appalachian hill country with the Scots-Irish immigrant influx, all the way through the power sounds of the sixties and into the seventies, when the outlaws ruled and before marketing teams decided that Down Under pop sensation Olivia Newton-John and pop-folk singer John Denver qualified as "country."

Dale emulates the greats, from Haggard and Husky to Williams and Wills, he captures the essence of country music, he becomes country music, distilled and condensed into one compact, talented package, who plays guitar, sings, and writes songs of passion and power and grit. With this release, Truckin' Sessions Volume Two, he jumps back aboard the 18-wheeler and sets forth along with the ghosts of Dave Dudley and Red Sovine, riding down that lonesome stretch of road.

Truckin' Sessions: Volume 2 - The Songs:

With The Truckin' Sessions 2, Dale gathers up several of his older songs from scattered albums over the years, combines them with a whole lot of brand-new originals, and records them all with his current batch of Lone Stars: bass player Gene Kurtz, pedal steel virtuoso Don Don Pawlak, and drummer David Bowen; as well as the legendary Redd Volkeart on guitars and Don Raby on fiddle; and turns out a collection that might be even more solidly terrific than Volume 1. It's a real treat hearing some of the new versions, especially the update of the Dale Watson favorite, "Truckstop in La Grange," sounding mighty nice with the shuffle tossed in, although I'm torn on the re-recording of "Truckin' Queen"; I think the first version, on Whiskey or God, is a little more playful and a little more fun, but really, you sure can't complain about anything on "Volume 2."

Watson plays with his sound a little, giving us his first instrumental offering, "10-4" (featuring a few CB calls scattered throughout), as well as the deeply moving "Hero," a song that should make you think twice about cutting in front of an 18-wheeler. He closes with a rip-roarin' version of "Texas Boogie," another old Watson favorite, and he does it with style.

Fourteen tracks of pure Dale Watson truckin' country music. It doesn't get any better than this.

Truckin' Sessions: Volume 2 Track List:

1. "Drag 'N' Fly"
2. "Jack's Truck Stop and Caf‚"
3. "Truck Stop in LaGrange"
4. "10-4"
5. "Yankee Doodle Jean"
6. "Hey Driver"
7. "Hero"
8. "I Got To Drive"
9. "Truckin' Man"
10. "Me and Freddie and Jake"
11. "Truckin' Queen"
12. "Let This Trucker Go"
13. "No Help Wanted"
14. "Texas Boogie"