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 he youth fall prey to goth, punk and shoegazing again and again, not because the music or the sentiment is better (or even darker) than country, but because a person looks so good listening to that stuff, in severe bangs, Egyptian eyes and strategically torn clothing. Dale Watson, though, looks great. And he sounds great. Plus, he has the best titles: “Cheatin’ Heart Attack,” “I Hate These Songs,” “Good Luck ‘n’ Good Truckin.'”
Tragedy, so prevalent in country lore, struck Watson in 2000. His fiancée fell asleep at the wheel while driving to see him, and was killed. Dale’s hair turned white and he tried to commit suicide. When that didn’t work, he corralled that raw pain — still bucking, still new — into an album titled Every Song I Write Is For You. While Watson’s not the first singer to say he’d sell his soul to the devil for just one more night with his love, he’s the first one I’ve truly, implicitly, believed. Even worse is when the truth hits — the devil’s not buying — and the only way to see your beloved again is to go crazy. Which is exactly what Dale tried next.
But it’s not all heartache. Watson’s latest album, Dreamland, is excellent. And during our conversation, I learned he still has truckin’, Chicken Shit Sunday at Ginny’s Little Longhorn Saloon, and a few good girls who understand where a man like Dale Watson is “at.” — Lisa Carver
I listen to your Every Song I Write Is for You, and I don’t think about when my dad left when I was six. I feel it. Just this pure pain that I never experience in my daily life, that I didn’t even experience at the time.
There’s a guy in Virginia, his son was murdered, and he came up to me going on about how that record got him through. He comes to every show, and I still hear from him today. He’s doing a lot better now. It was a very personal album to record, but it could be about anyone you lose — a son, a mom, a dad. When you get in that mode of feeling — that’s what music’s supposed to be about. Not safe.
The car crash happened in September 2000, and you tried to commit suicide shortly after Christmas of that year.
Yup. December 30th. How?
Pills and vodka. Why didn’t it work?
I should’ve known it wouldn’t. Things like Ny-Quil have always had an opposite effect on me. They make me really jittery. I ground up a lot of sleeping pills — I mean hundreds — and it made me speed like a demon. Even with a quart of vodka in me. Somehow my road manager found me. I was in a hotel. I didn’t tell anyone where I was at; I don’t know how he found me. After that you checked into a mental institution?
They take people who try to commit suicide directly to a mental-health facility. I was in there about five days. It was pretty normal there, just like a regular hospital. I had insurance from some movie stuff I’d done, so I was taken care of pretty good. It was two years later though that I went through some wild stuff that came from out of the blue. That’s when I went into the nuthouse with people running around talking to themselves, scary stuff. I’m writing a book on that, and the movie we’re shooting now is loosely based on the book. Zalman King is the director/producer. He did 9 1/2 Weeks, Red Shoe Diaries. He also wrote Never Say Never Again, the Bond film. He’s fictionalizing my story. He calls it a docudrama. It’s a love story, really. What’s the title of your book going to be?
I Wish I Was Crazy Again. That’s what I was going to call my next album too, but actually I’m going to call it Hnyeh! Do you wish you were crazy again, because you could see Terri when you were?
Yeah. I was hearing her voice, all kinds of stuff. I went totally nuts. You’d think recording the CD would be a good cure for you. But the CD came out in 2001, and you went even worse crazy in 2002.
Yeah. You’d think it would be cathartic. I don’t know. Even today, I miss Terri as much as the first day. But it’s not every second, like it was the first three years. How long were you two together?
Only four months. That’s what makes it so crazy. Totally blows my mind every time I think about it. When you met, was it an immediate connection, like you’d come home?
Yeah. I was just getting out of a ten-year marriage, so I was really apprehensive of any kind of relationship. But I met her, and it was a strong, strong feeling. Just a can’t-deny-it type of thing. It’s amazing how somebody you meet for such a short time can change your whole life. I really liken it to being hit by lightning. You’re never the same after that. Your songs about her remind me of Johnny Cash singing about June Carter.
Thank you, yeah. I feel that too. What’s it like to sing these songs live?
I’ve done three weddings in the past three months. Some of them made one of my songs the wedding song. I still love doing them.
I think that sick people would feel better if they heard your voice. It sounds, I don’t know — true. Amazon.com described what you do as “masculine wistfulness.”
Ha! Wow, I like that. I’ve heard early recordings of me, and I don’t have nowhere near as low a voice. They say that they used to make actors go to a vocal coach and scream till their vocal chords were scarred. Rock Hudson did it. They’d do that for months on end, thicken up the vocal chords and make their voice deeper. I’ve sung six nights a week since I was eighteen. So maybe that’s what happened.
Did it help you get dates in your youth?
No, I pretty much just stayed on the guitar. Didn’t socialize as much as most people did. Bare-bones country really is the best format for expressing pain, and growing up is all about pain. But the thing keeping the youth away is the clothes. And the hair! Hideous.
Ha! They’re thinking about Tim McGraw. But the clothes — yeah. They can keep ’em. What are country groupies like?
The folks who follow us around, they seem more on the normal side. But some were rather scary. You check into a hotel, and they’re there. You go to the next city, and they’re at that hotel. What do they want from you?
Not nothin’. Just time. So, heavy-metal fans want sex, and the country fans just want attention.
Yeah. They just want to talk. I mean, some of them would like more. I’ve had managers say you got to act like you’re better than some folks before you get treated better than some folks. I never went by that adage. That’s one of the reasons I don’t have a manager anymore. If people think they can’t go out in public, then that will probably happen to them. If you just walk down the street like it ain’t nothin’, people will just treat you like a normal person. People do come up to you in the middle of your dinner in a restaurant, but that’s cool, ain’t nothin’ wrong with that. It’s only just a few moments out of your day. I saw a four-song CD of yours that came out in Europe but isn’t available here, “Hey Don.” It’s all songs to your favorite bartender.
That was a promo CD they sent to radio stations. Don was a great guy. He was the husband of Ginny, who owns Ginny’s Little Longhorn, where I do Chickenshit Sundays. What’s Chickenshit Sunday?
Every Sunday we put a chicken on a table where there’s numbers underneath it. At the end of the evening, if you draw a number the chicken shits on, you win a hundred dollars. We do it three times.
I was going to ask why you wrote songs about Don.
A place like Ginny’s is like the old honky-tonks. Even if you didn’t know anybody, it’s still a friendly place. To go honky tonkin’ used to mean go blow off steam at a local beer joint, listening to very electric sounds of . . . I guess a white man’s blues; you dance the worries away. Now it means something totally different. A meat bar.
Were you ever a trucker?
I went to truck-driving school for just a couple of days. I was going to step out of the music for a little bit and just do trucking, kind of clear my head. But then we had a number-one record in Europe and I got a tour, so I quit the school and went back to music.
Do you want to attain superstar status?
No. It’s not that I would avoid it, but it’s not on my checklist. Truly, I feel comfortable where I’m at. My kids are taken care of and my bills are paid.
Have you had a girlfriend since Terri?
I don’t do girlfriends anymore. [laughs] I just kind of take it slow these days.
It seems like it would feel so strange to any girl with you, like she’s walking in footsteps she can never —
That’s part of the reason. It wouldn’t be fair to anyone. To get involved with me would take more than anyone should have to.
Aw, don’t say that.
I mean, I’m a happy guy these days. I got great friends, and I date, and I got girls who understand where I’m at. So I’m not a lonely guy. I’m doing good.
How old are your kids?
Six and thirteen. Girls. Do they sing?
Not yet. I’d rather they get into something less dependent on the public’s fancy. Why do you do so well in Europe?
Maybe people are more open-minded over there when it comes to music. They’re not being told what to like. Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and all them guys were huge over there. I’m probably the person doing the closest to that kind of music. But things are changing with the internet and satellite radio. You’re able to focus in on the niche music. Yeah. In the ’90s, music was largely dependent on radio setlists. Now it’s more of a free-for-all.
Well, the thing is, ClearChannel and all these major companies are trying to lasso it and get a handle on it. But digital music is so easily pirated. It’s becoming a minstrel’s world. Which is fine with me. n°
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Click here to buy
Every Song I Write Is For You
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Click here to buy Dreamland
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© 2005 Lisa Carver and hooksexup.com.
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