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Audio CD (August 24, 2010)
Original Release Date: 2010
Number of Discs: 1
1. Carryin' On This Way 3:46
2. Hey Brown Bottle 2:43
3. Flowers In Your Hair 3:18
4. You're Always On My Mind 2:46
5. Ain't That Livin' 2:31
6. Heart Of Stone 3:18
7. I'll Show Ya 2:31
8. How To Break Your Own Heart 3:14
9. For A Little While 3:17
10. Whatever 2:17
11. Your Love I'm Gonna Miss 3:58
12. Don't Wanna Go Home Song 3:08
13. Hello, I'm An Old Country Song 3:57
Editorial Reviews:
So when Dale releases a new album, my expectations are tempered. Then it was revealed that Dale had used Nashville musicians while recording the album in Nashville. Things were not setting up well. Then an early reviewer lamented his polished approach to this album.
Two guns up!
Customer Reviews:
- If you've ever lamented the demise of true country music, take heart. Dale Watson is carryin' on the tradition in a most classy way. Murder may have been committed "down on Music Row," but country music is doing quite well in Texas thank you. You won't be able to take this cd out of your player and you may feel the need to plan a road trip just so you can listen to "Hey Brown Bottle" loop. On the other hand, you'll also feel like dancing when track 12 rolls around, the "Don't Wanna Go Home Song." There's a bit of Glen Campbell in here and a touch of Elvis, but a whole lof of Dale Watson's heart. The production is stellar and the musicians top of the line. I love this man's music. I send out Dale Watson alerts to friends when I know he's coming to their local honky tonk. I also have his "Promiseland" and "Whisky or God" cds, along with most all of his older ones.
- Dale's growing up. His latest CD shows new sensitivity about relationships and the state of country music. He doesn't show the anger about the commercialization of the genre that he did in past recordings. Instead, he makes a compassionate plea for a return to the roots of the music he loves. The musicianship of Dale's Lonestars is top-notch. This is one of his best efforts. Heartily recommended.
- Dale Watson has always been a country music militant. But as he's aged, he's moved away from explicit railing against the modern country music establishment, choosing instead to show them up by crafting songs that are more country than "country." Of course, there's some irony in Watson's embrace of an era that was scorned by then-contemporary critics who felt Nashville had irrevocably compromised the hillbilly roots of earlier times with the introduction of electric guitars and drums. But one can easily trace the DNA shared by the Carter Family, Merle Haggard and Dale Watson, while many of Nashville's modern radio stars seem to have grown from the Petri dish of arena rock. The music that Watson idolizes, and the place from which he composes, grew from the same roots, even as electric instruments were introduced and pedals were added to the steel guitars.
His latest album draws directly upon the golden age by featuring Lloyd Green (steel guitar), Hargus "Pig" Robbins (piano) and Pete Wade (guitar) as instrumentalists, with the Carol Lee Cooper Singers (led by the daughter of legends Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper) adding deft countrypolitan touches in the background. Watson's baritone is less strident than in his earlier days, showing his love of country songs with his vocal caress rather than with lyrical barbs. He shuffles with the swinging glide of Ray Price, tenderly holding a lover, switching to the bottle's embrace when left behind, and finally counseling the cheaters of the world "How to Break Your Own Heart."
The album's title track borrows the rolling rhythm of "Gentle on My Mind," but its self-assessment of an aging party boy charts a future without John Hartford's wistful memories. Robbins' piano and Green's steel underline the emotions as Watson's songs wallow in romantic misery, moon over absent mates, and celebrate being in love. The album's one moment of modern-Nashville-inspired enmity is the closing "Hello, I'm an Old Country Song." But here the words are filled with sorrow rather than barbs, more nostalgic and resigned than ready to pick a fight. Still, as long as Waston is writing and singing, he keeps the flame of his beloved country sounds vital, and that's truly the best rebuttal of all.
- Attention all wannabes: THIS is how it's done. The man should teach a master class - he consistently creates great music, period - and his voice is a dream. Do yourself a favor and give this (or any of his records, really) a listen immediately.
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