Lisa Herrick
Staff Reporter for CNF
March 20, 2022

Edit Date March 28th, 2022

This is an exciting time for Crossville Tennessee as far as entertainment goes. The Palace Theater will be welcoming some great names like Gene Watson, Sammy Kershaw, Lee Greenwood & More.

CNF reached out to Gene Watson who will be performing at the Palace Theater on June 24th, 2022 and he agreed to do an interview with me. I informed him that this is my first celebrity interview and with that in mind as you read here is the story of my interview with Gene Watson! I have included for your reading pleasure a full biography of Gene provided by his management company, his highlights, and some quotes from various publications who sing his praises following my interview.

 

To listen to Gene Watson (born Gary Gene Watson) speak it sounds as if he is in his forties or earlier. It is a kind voice and a friendly beautiful baritone voice that puts me at ease.  I asked a  question that he deemed personal and told me he does not discuss his personal life therefore I leave others along it’s line out. I ask next where his tour we’ll be headed. He tells me Plant City, Florida  and to Georgia and really all over the place. He says he gets in the bus and they just drive him to where he needs to go.  I next asked him about an article that I had found that had been written about him years ago.  Within the article it indicated that Gene  changed his style somewhat back when he was opening for Randy Travis and that when “Don’t Waste it on the Blues” came out he got kind of a fresh wind.  He tells me that that is a misconception and that he is still primarily traditional, however; he loves all different types of music and he is not afraid to try things “outside the box” which just happens to be the title of his new CD that will be coming out in the near future. He tells me that anytime he feels like something isn’t going to work or there is a question at all he goes back to traditional . He tells me that has a 60 year anniversary in country music coming up as well as their CD “Outside the Box” I ask him what kind of music we can expect on it and he tells me “a little bit of everything you would ever expect to hear from Gene Watson”. Some traditional Country, Some Waltz a Duet with Rhonda Vincent (whom he did an entire album with in the past) and an additional surprise he alluded too! Also some blues and jazzy tunes. He appreciates his long fan base and does his best to include something for everybody.

For fun I ask if he ever performs straight rock and roll when nobody is listening just to hear what he would sound like and he tells me no but he feels he could sing any type of song if he really wanted to. One thing though that I have learned about Gene is if he has not lived it he does not want to sing about it and that is what attributes to the golden authenticity in is voice.

I now move to the story of “Farewell Party” and how it came to be. There was twenty minutes left on the clock at the recording studio and he  grabbed a guitar and they went through it once and the musicians made their own chord charts. They did it in the first take as there were some top musicians in the studio that day one of them being Lloyd Green. He says it’s the signature type song every musician wishes they had and is “noted to be one of his greatest songs.”

I tell him that I watched a compilation of him singing Farewell Party through the years and each time I noted was performed with such heart. He tells me that he tries to perform every song to every audience as if it is the first time he is singing it. He says if people are going to go to the trouble to buy tickets to see his shows he is going to give them what they expect. He says he and the band like to sing every song to every audience like it is a brand new song however still duplicate the CD. They keep the energy fresh He says “Every song is an individual and every fan is an individual and we want to try to please each one.”

I then switch the subject to his siblings and what part they have played in his life as a musician. Before Gene became a star his younger brother Jesse was in a band with him and they performed as teenagers but Jesse is not on any releases. Later on Gene would sing with his older brother in different nightclubs before he got famous and You will hear Gene’s sisters Virginia and Mary Lois on a full Gospel album that they recorded together. He said the name of the album when it was released was “Jesus Is All I Need.” His current Gospel album is called “My Gospel Roots”.

I next ask him some questions of what became of his manager Elizabeth “Lib” Hatcher and he tells me that he split from her management and she and Randy Travis got together and became man and wife and then they split so he lost all track of what has been going on with her.

The next set of questions dealt with the article previously mentioned herein where Gene had told me there had been a misconception and it turned out there were others in the article too. The former writer had misquoted him as to how he laid down tracks and gene cleared it up for me. He told me that things got easier with Warner Bros. because he was assigned producers and with that weight off his shoulders he could concentrate on his singing solely and it allowed him to go in when he was “rested” and not worry about other things but he maintains that both before and after being assigned producers he always recorded the same way and that was and still is live in the studio. He does not now nor has he ever recorded to tracks. He tells me that in fact they had some music prerecorded they tried to get him to do and he refused and established early on he only recorded live. There was a song that was meant for Merle Haggard where his voice was taken off and Gene’s voice added but otherwise all songs are done live in the studio. He went on to say that once the recording was finished it would at that point be taken to other studios for overdubbing but it was all live material. Unfortunately, my next question was based on that article (from quite a reputable source and I am saddened) that I have discovered now has totally misquoted and misrepresented Gene and to no surprise I find him being misquoted on how much of his career he actually controlled then. Gene is quick to clear up any misconceptions and tells me he has never recorded for a label that did not let him pick and choose what he sings and has always had the final say in how he sounds.

I asked him for a fun fact about himself that he’s never told the public and he rewarded me with a great answer. Gene never warms his voice up before a performance or at any other time.  He has been blessed with a naturally gorgeous voice that has stayed in the same range throughout his entire career. His voice is at it’s best when he is rested and he required nothing but that feeling to bless us with the hundreds of songs he has vocalized throughout the years.

In the last moments of the conversation, I tell him I did not mean to offend him in any way by asking the questions that stemmed from that old interview and he tells me that I did not offend him in anyway at all and he is anxious to read what I have to write. I am thinking to myself so am I!!! This has been a great opportunity and I hope I can shine a spotlight on a great man that is well deserved!!!! He reiterates he has always done things his way but that’s not to say he does not have a producer. He does but they agree on everything before a song is produced.

I tell him how much I have enjoyed learning about him and refer to a video where he is singing “Farewell Party” sitting down. He nails the end SITTING DOWN and anybody who knows the song and knows how to sing knows just how difficult a thing that is to do.” Link to actual performance

He reiterates he still sings all of his songs in the same key they were first recorded in and is “thankful to the Good Lord for giving him the pipes to be able to do it.”

I sensed he was ready to wrap it  up so I thanked him for his time and said goodbye. I was troubled because I had not yet asked a few questions so I rolled the dice and  sent the questions by text and received answers to my questions and a very appreciated response. With that said I am going to insert the actual text received from Gene in response to my questions. I think the context of the  text will clarify my questions and that I need not write them. The following is his response to the questions I sent by text:

“Lisa, I’m not thinking of retiring at this time, but who knows when!

  I could never know how many songs are original, although all of them are original to me!!!!

  I can’t say I’ve never had stage fright, I’m sure I have, but it would have been a long time ago!!!

   I never dreamed of being an entertainer, or anyone famous!!

   It was all an accident! A couple of guys heard me singing in a club, and asked would I like to do some recording, I said if you will take me to Nashville, Sure!!!

   So that’s kinda how it happened!” 

 

It was an awesome privilege to speak with Gene Watson the absolute huge country legend! The following is the aforementioned biography and further information for your reading enjoyment. I hope you have enjoyed the interview with Gene and there will be more interviews with other legends like this to come.

GENE WATSON BIOGRAPHY

If you ask any number of country singers who their favorite singer is, a large number of them will respond: Gene Watson. His music peers even named him “The Singer’s Singer” for his octave jumping range and smooth tone.

Gene Watson is a proud member of the Grand Ole Opry and has 34 studio albums, over 72 charted songs, including 23 Top Tens and 6 #1 hits over his sixty-year career. Watson’s first single, the self- penned, “If It’s That Easy” was released on Sun Valley Records in 1962. It is safe to say that most knowledgeable country fans would point to Gene Watson as one of country music’s best ballad singers in the same league as country icons George Jones, Merle Haggard, Ray Price and others who are the standard bearers for honest, traditional country music. It’s no surprise to anyone but Gene that the Grand Ole Opry asked him to be a member and inducted him into that iconic group in March of 2020, just before the world shut down for the pandemic. It’s also no surprise that such artists as Vince Gill, Lee Ann Womack, Trace Adkins, Connie Smith, Joe Nichols, Alison Krauss, and many others are not only happy, but eager to record with Gene.

It’s a stunning truth that at 78 years of age, Gene still sings with his clear, pure tone intact, an unmatched soulful delivery and in the same key as 30 years ago. And that is good news for fans of real country music rooted in the timeless values of one of America’s bedrock musical genres. “I think I’m working harder on each album to perfect what I do and still always working to be better,” Gene notes. “I don’t want anything to be so technically slick that we lose the emotion or the electricity of the moment. Each song is very personal to me and I always want the people listening to feel the emotion. Each song has a special meaning to me or I wouldn’t record it.” Indeed Gene records the old-school way, live in the studio with a set of great musicians, and often singing literally in the same room as the musicians, eschewing the isolation booths normally used by vocalists.

Gene picks all the songs for his albums and works side by side with his longtime producer, Dirk Johnson. “I feel very fortunate,” Gene says, “that when I start to make an album I can call on the brilliant Nashville songwriting community and most of the songwriters there know my style and what type of songs to pitch to me. That makes my job easier. I try to choose songs I feel all people can relate to while at the same time trying to find a song that’s a little bit different and unique.”

Gene’s life story is a classic country life scenario. He is truly a humble man of the soil who has no idea of his own greatness. When he sings at the Grand Ole Opry, other artists gather at the side of the stage to watch him. But Gene himself seems incapable of pride or self-congratulation. Indeed despite all his success he has never totally abandoned his auto repair business. “I can remember singing before I can remember talking,” he relates. “Even when I was a kid, if I heard a song twice, I knew it. But I never planned to be an entertainer. I knew I could sing, but that wasn’t out of the ordinary. My whole family could.” In fact, Watson doesn’t even think he was the best singer in the seven- child household. Make that “bus-hold”. The itinerant Watson family moved from shack to shack until his father customized an old school bus for living quarters and transportation from job to job. “Yeah, we were poor,” says the singer. “Today, people live in motor homes. Ours was yellow. It was an old school bus my father hollowed out for us to live in. We traveled to Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas until one day my dad came in and decided we were going to Phoenix, Arizona. We didn’t have the money to go to Phoenix, so we worked our way out there, stopped to pick crops and all that stuff.

My dad was kind of a gypsy. He always said, ‘I’m fixin’ to leave in the morning. If there’s a dollar out there, I’m going to get 50 cents of it.’ I always kept that in mind. My dad worked hard at whatever it took to put food on the table. He worked in the log woods. He worked at the tire shops. He was a crop worker. We would cut spinach. We would pull radishes. We would dig potatoes. We would pick cotton. Whatever it took, we did it. That’s the only life I knew. I was a poor boy. But I wouldn’t take nothing for my raising–as far as my teachings, the way my mother raised me, the way my dad worked and everything. We were a happy family. No one else around us had anything more, so we didn’t know we were poor. I think it took all that to get all this.”

Born in Palestine, Texas in 1943, Gene Watson was singing in holiness churches with his family at an early age. His father played blues harmonica and guitar alongside African-American field laborers. Watson grew up loving both bluesman Jimmy Reed and honky-tonk king Lefty Frizzell. His earliest public country performance came when he was just 12 years old. Watson worked from the time he was six, working in the fields, to age 12, when he’d jump off the school bus to work at the local salvage yard. He dropped out of high school to work fulltime.

In his late teens, he supported his family by doing auto body repair, so by day he worked on cars, and at night he sang in clubs. “But doing music professionally was never a goal of mine,” he confesses. I always wanted to work on cars. I always say I never did go looking for music. Music found me. Before I ever made a record, The Wilburn Brothers heard me sing down in Houston at a nightclub one night. They said they’d like for me to go with them and do a couple of shows. So I came up to Nashville and traveled to North Carolina with them. Back in Nashville, they got me on the Grand Ole Opry, and I got a standing ovation and an encore singing the Hank Williams song ‘I Can’t Help It If I’m Still In Love With You’ and ‘It Is No Secret What God Can Do.’ After that, they carried me down to the Ernest Tubb Record Shop and I got on stage and broadcast on The Midnight Jamboree. That was my first experience with the Big Time. I was 21.”

In the mid 70s, while on Capitol Records, he enjoyed success with a string of national hits, “Love In The Hot Afternoon,” “Where Love Begins,” “Paper Rosie,” “Farewell Party,” “Should I Come Home (Or Should I Go Crazy),” and “Nothing Sure Looked Good On You.” Before signing with MCA in the 80s, Gene recorded “Any Way You Want Me,” from the soundtrack of the Clint Eastwood movie “Any Which Way You Can”, a song personally requested by the legendary actor/director. Somewhere along the way, Clint Eastwood had heard the song as a demo recording by its writer, L. Ofman, a recording produced by Gene -but Eastwood insisted that Gene should record the song.

Other songs by Watson that have been used in for TV and movies include “Paper Rosie” in the movie Another 48 Hours , “Cowboys Don’t Get Lucky All The Time” in the movie Convoy , and “Should I Come Home (or Should I Go Crazy)” in television’s WKRP in Cincinatti . S hortly after moving to MCA, Watson recorded “Fourteen Carat Mind” which hit #1 in 1982. A parade of Top Ten hits followed during the early ’80s, including “Speak Softly (You’re Talking To My Heart)” and “You’re Out Doing What I’m Here Doing Without,” “Sometimes I Get Lucky,” “Drinkin’ My Way Back Home,” “Forever Again” and “Little By Little.” In 1985, Gene moved to Epic Records and returned to the Top 5 with the western swing-influenced Memories to Burn , which was also the title of his first album on the label. Subsequent albums with Epic included Starting New Memorie s in 1986 and Honky Tonk Crazy in 1987.

The following year, Gene Watson made his Warner Bros. debut with Back In The Fire which was followed by At Last. Leaving the label in 1991, Gene recorded the album In Other Words which was initially released only in Canada on Gary Buck’s label, Broadland International Records. It was later released in the US in 1993. The same year, Gene made his debut album for Step One Records Uncharted Mind and followed it with the albums The Good Ole Days , Jesus Is All I Need and A Way To Survive .

A brief stint with the RMG (Row Music Group) Records label yielded the title From The Heart which was followed by the recording Gene Watson….Sings on Intersound Records in 2003. In September 2007 Gene recorded his highly anticipated Shanachie Entertainment debut In A Perfect World . The Associated Press said “Gene Watson has never sounded better, which is saying something” while The Boston Herald claimed the album as “The Country Music Sleeper of the Year ” and USA Today called Watson “ One of  country’s finest, and most underrated singers.” After two albums with Shanachie, in 2012, Watson established his own label Fourteen Carat Music and released the ultimate re-recorded album, his own Best of the Best, 25 Greatest Hits. Each track was painstakingly recorded as close as possible to the original, updated sonically and released to great critical acclaim.

In 2015, Gene enjoyed working on a TV show for the RFD-TV Network, produced by Larry Black’s Gabriel Entertainment company. The show was called “The Gene and Moe Show” and featured Gene with his longtime friend and country music star, Moe Bandy, as they interviewed various legends from Gene’s favorite truck and car world to Moe’s heroes on the rodeo and bull riding circuit. Watson has released three other albums on his own label, My Heroes Have Always Been Country , Real.Country.Music. and a Gospel album, My Gospel Roots which garnered 4 consecutive #1 hits. He also recorded a duet album in 2011 with the “Queen of Bluegrass,” Rhonda Vincent for Rhonda’s label. The album titled “My Money And Your Good Looks,” pleased both the Country music fans and Bluegrass fans. Watson is currently working on a new album of country music titled “ Outside The Box .”

Gene Watson says “ I have been on top. And I’ve been just as low as you can go.” All of those ups and downs have kept Watson always searching for his next project and never giving up. He concludes, “There’s a tremendous number of people around the world who continue to come out to hear some fiddle and steel and songs about heartbreak and real life,” Gene says. ” I think there is still such a hunger out there for traditional country music. So I’d like to stay out there as long as I’m able to do the job and do it well.”

GENE WATSON HIGHLIGHTS

Member of the Grand Ole Opry

2022 Celebrating 60 years in the Music Business

2022 –  working on a new album for release in September 2022

Gene Watson’s first single, the self- penned, “If It’s That Easy” was released on Sun Valley Records in 1962.

• 34 studio albums  
• 6 #1 country hits
• 5  # 1 Country Gospel hits
• 23 Top Tens
• Over 75 charted songs
• George Jones, Ronnie Dunn, Ray Price and more call Gene Watson one of their all – time favorite singers.
• 2020  Inducted into the Grand Ole Opry
• 2017 –  Gospel CD  titled “My Gospel Roots” released September 22nd
• 2016   Released CD “Real.Country.Music.” 
• 2014  Released “My Heroes Have Always Been Country”  which received 4 Critics Picks as “Best of the Year”
• 2013  Inducted into the inaugural class of the Houston Music Hall of Fame
• 2012 Released  “Best of the Best” 25 Greatest Hits (all re-recorded hits) and received two Critics Pick as Best of the Year 
• 2012  Paris, TX names street Gene Watson Boulevard
• September 24, 2012   Governor Rick Perry names Gene Watson Day
• 2011   Gene Watson released an all duet album with Bluegrass Queen, Rhonda Vincent   “Your Money and My Good Looks” 
• 2011  Received the Ernest Tubb Memorial Award
• 2009  Country Music Hall of Fame Spotlight Exhibit
• 2010  LEGEND OF THE YEAR  title awarded by Citadel Media’s Real Country Network  national Listener’s Choice Awards
• 2009   9513.com #1 ALBUM OF THE DECADE  for “A Taste of the Truth”  
• 2009  PopMatters.com #5 Album of the Year  for “ A Taste of the Truth”

Past Honors:

• R.O.P.E.  Entertainer of the Year  
• ACM New Male Vocalist of the Year nominee  1975
• Texas Country Music Hall of Fame Member  
• Signature songs: Farewell Party, Paper Rosie, Fourteen Carat Mind, Love in the Hot Afternoon

 

GENE WATSON

*********   QUOTES FROM OTHER NEWS SOURCES  *********

 

“Gene Watson: One of country’s finest, and most underrated singers.”     

                                                         USA Today.com

 

“Like a well-aged whiskey, Gene Watson has gained smoothness yet maintained his visceral bite.”  “…gems like like ‘What Was I Thinking?’ and ‘She’s Already Gone’ prove Watson can make contemporary songs sound like timeless classics. He’s never sounded better, which is saying something.”                              Associated Press                                  

 

“On this new collection, (Gene Watson) proves he’s still got it in spades.                       

                                                               Billboard.com

 

“(Gene Watson)still has the pipes to deliver a subtle honky tonk lament. Never a pretty boy crooner, his voice still has a chipped metallic edge as hard as the cars he used to work on.”  

                                             Ken Tucker, NPR’s Fresh Air Radio                                                                   

                                                    

“Gene Watson truly belongs on a select list of superb country vocalists, a fabulous stylist whose technical prowess never undermines his earthiness or honesty… Gene Watson’s anguished tone, stark delivery and piercing sound represents the best in pure country vocalizing.”                                  American Songwriter                              

     

 

“In A Perfect World is a stunning reminder of why the Texan is considered one of country’s all-time great balladeers. This is classic hard country, and so is Watson’s understated, straight-to-the-heart singing.  Vince Gill, Lee Ann Womack, Joe Nichols, Mark Chesnutt and Connie Smith are on hand to harmonize, but they rightly take a backseat to a master who’s at the top of his game.” 

                                                     Philadelphia Inquirer                                 

 

                                                             

“In A Perfect World, probably the best album I have heard in 2007.”

          John Philbert, Country Music People  (Five Stars and CD of the Month)

 

“Whenever country music aficionados discuss the genre’s best traditional male vocalist, Gene Watson’s name is among those that surface.  He should be in the Country Music Hall of Fame.”    

                                                 Maverick Magazine                                                         

 

 

“What can you say about the most burnished and sensitive male voice on the planet except ‘Listen’? “    (Top Ten Best of 2007)  

                                                  Edward Morris   CMT.com  

 

 “I am drawn to music where the voice is simply another instrument, rather than the one and only thing you’re supposed to notice…An unsung traditionalist gets his due from famous friends on standards and new songs. In a perfect world, the title track would be a classic, too.  Can’t beat the harmonies here.”     (Top Ten Best of 2007)  

                                                  Craig Shelburne,  CMT.com

GENE WATSON/I Buried Our Love    
    Magical. The haunting, minor-key melody swirls with atmosphere. By the time this master vocalist swung into the chorus, I was completely enthralled. One of the greatest country songs of the year is in the throat of a man that every country vocalist in this city should bow to. And most of them do.                                Robert K. Oermann,   Music Row Magazine

 

CNF will be doing another Palace Prelude to a show for Sammy Kershaw who is set to perform on April 7, 2022 at the beloved Palace Theater. God Bless and God Speed to all!!!!!