Kathy: You've just come back from an extended vacation, more or less, in Baltimore. How was it coming back to Austin? What did you miss most about not performing?
Dale Watson: Austin is home so it felt like a homecoming. I missed the writing. That's the way I'm inspired these days, by the audience.
Kathy: It seems a lot of our local talent, from here in Phoenix, has been relocating to Austin. So what do you think that city has that beckons to artists and draws them to play there? What do you love most about it?
Dale Watson: What draws artists here is also the thing I love most about Austin. It is a city that encourages originality and creativity instead of suppressing it and discouraging it, like a place like Nashville or Los Angeles.
Kathy: You're an amazing guitar player. How long have you been playing, and do you play any other instruments?
Dale Watson: I'm hittin' and hopin' when it comes to picking guitar, but I do love to play. I should be much better for all the years I've been playing, which is 30 years. I play electric bass enough to get by but that's about it.
Kathy: You're a very prolific writer, it seems. How many songs have you got in the pipeline, or ready to go to press? What's your process for getting a song from your brain to paper?
Dale Watson: I've written about 400 songs but not recorded all of them. Quantity in my case unfortunately is not quality and I realize that. As I said, I write mostly on stage. "Tequila and Teardrops" was written that way, "Texas Boogie," "Honky Tonkers Don't Cry," really too many to list. They come out as groove ideas or subject matter ideas and we pick a chord progression and run with it. If it works okay I take it home and try to recall it and refine it.
Kathy: You have a very impressive set of "sleeves." What was your first tattoo, and what are the significance of some of your current ones?
Dale Watson: Sleeves usually come in themes. Mine is family on the left arm and home on the right. Music throughout both. My first tat was of the state of Texas with a Fender Telecaster thru it. The more current ones are of my two daughters. One a portrait of Dalynn my youngest & the other for my oldest Rachel that shows a big truck with the song I wrote for her "I Gotta Get Home To My Baby."
Kathy: You've had the chance to meet some of your heroes, & record with the likes of Johnny Bush. Is there any other legend still with us you'd love to work with?
Dale Watson: I would love to do a duet with Loretta Lynn.
Kathy: So, is there another extended tour in the works? I know you love working in Europe, & you have a lot of fans there, but we'd love to see you back in the Southwest again.
Dale Watson: West Coast in July and August, more Mid-West and East coast in later August and September, then Europe in October with just a 3 piece combo, me on acoustic, Redd Volkeart on Electric and Nate Rowe on Upright Bass.
