Country Artist Dale Watson

Dale Watson began writing his own songs at age 12, making his first recording two years later. Soon after, Watson became an emancipated minor. By day he went to school and by night he played local Houston clubs and honky-tonks with his brother Jim, in an aggregation called The Classic Country Band.

Watson formed a backing band called The Lone Stars in Austin, Texas. He scored a deal with Hightone and released his debut album, Cheatin’ Heart Attack, in 1995. It was greeted with enormous acclaim for the vitality Watson brought to his vintage-style material and performances and also featured a dig at mainstream Country in “Nashville Rash”. Follow-up album Blessed Or Damned appeared in 1996 and continued in a similar vein, as did 1997’s I Hate These Songs. His next release, The Truckin’ Sessions, appeared on Koch in 1998 and was devoted entirely to that distinct Country subgenre of truck-driving songs. Watson attended truck driving school about the time his first album came out and later obtained his commercial driver’s license; he often drives the band bus when on tour.

In 2013 he released El Rancho Azul via Red House Records, which featured the single, “I Lie When I Drink”, which has become his signature song.