Dale Watson – Live in London…England!
It takes three things to make a strong live record: great songs, good sound and a clever frontman to fill in the blank spaces with jokes and stories. All of those qualities are present in abundance here.
Recorded over two nights in August 2000, the album is a long (20 tracks, 69 minutes) and rollicking tour through Watson’s songbook, supplemented by a few well-chosen standards. Watson is in fine spirits and even better voice on both uptempo cuts such as “No Fussin’, No Cussin” and slower tunes such as “I Hate These Songs”. Between numbers, Watson acts as his own emcee, taking requests and tossing off one-liners.
Backed by the Lonestars, Watson stomps through Jimmie Rodgers’ “In The Jailhouse Now”, turns in a smart version of Johnny Cash’ s “I Got Stripes”, and covers classics from Merle Haggard, Wynn Stewart and Eddie Kirk. But most of this record is made up of songs Watson has written during his long career playing the bars and honky-tonks in his native Texas. On “Country My Ass” — bolstered by a guest vocal turn from Hank Williams III — Watson pokes fun at the pampered artists who get played on commercial country radio. “He ain’t even near 20,” he sings, “but he says he’s seen plenty of hard times.”
Watson’s fans view him as a standard-bearer of traditional country, and on this record, he does a pretty good job of living up to that reputation.