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Dale Watson
The Little Darlin' Sessions
Koch Records
Hailing from Alberta, Canada, I've two-stepped my way across enough dance floors to reluctantly embrace the kind of shit-kicking, hard drinking country music that Johnny Paycheck delivered consistently as a panacea to your average redneck. Although I wouldn't go so far as to say that I liked it, I recognized its place in that particular world.
Dale Watson revisits the Paycheck songs and several others that put Koch records on the map in the Little Darlin' Sessions, a tribute to Koch produced by the back-from- retirement, Aubrey Mayhew, the label's founder, and featuring several of the musicians from the original recordings. Watson says on his website: "We were given one run through and that was it. They wouldn't allow any originals and the result is tandem to me doing karaoke on Little Darlin' songs. A couple of the songs I begged not to sing as I did not like them. In that regard it really was Nashville, 1966. Koch is releasing it under protest of me and Lloyd Green." Watson might just be on to something. While an argument can be made for the purity of recording country music the old way-i.e. throw the musicians into the studio and press the record button--I found the collection somewhat uninspired and lacking the energy that usually accompanies one-take recordings. I also noted on Watson's website that he defines his own music as "Ameripolitan," a word he came up with on his own, which sounds to me like #4 on the TGI Fridays cocktail menu--a fruity blend that's likely to induce technicolor vomiting at the end of the evening. Bad word choices aside, Watson has a great rumbling voice and an easy cadence to his music, reminiscent of the late great Johnny Cash. He slips comfortably away from the stereotypical Nashville artist and his own work is an engaging listen. The Little Darlin' Sessions isn't the kind of thing you'd want to listen to again and again but you may want to have it playing softly in the background as you rob a Brinks truck or kill your wife for cheating on you. Bear in mind, though, Watson doesn't even like it, so why should we?
--Yvonne Prinz
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