Artist:     Dale Watson

Album:     Call Me Lucky

Label:     Red House/Ameripolitan

Release Date:     02.15.2019

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Both consistent and prolific, Dale Watson releases an album—sometimes two—every year. For over three decades now Watson has been a steadfast torchbearer for traditional, classic country, contemporized just a bit for what he calls his “Ameripolitan” sound. Since his success I 2011 with Sun Sessions, he has houses in both Memphis and Austin,and spends an equal amount of time in each. His signature sound hasn’t changed very much but as he’s gotten to know many of Memphis’ best musicians, he’s begun filtering in horns and looking to acclaimed players like guest guitarist Will Sexton and vocalist Celine Lee. Yet,Dale Watson and His Lone Stars, his core band, again carry most of the load for a dozen two -to-three minute tunes.

Recorded at Sam Phillips Recording, Watson and band make another very solid, authentic honky-tonk record, one that brings me back to the days of driving across Tennessee and Kentucky tuned into Nashville’s WSM during the golden age of country in the early ’80s. A closer listen reveals much of the earlier music from the Sun heroes Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins. On “The Dumb Song” you’ll hear Perkins’ and Cash’s drummer ,W.S. Holland shout out a “Yes!” Those Sun cats are clearly on Watson’s mind for “Johnny and June,” the slow country weeper he sings and wrote with rockabilly artist Celine Lee.

He wrote the title track while thinking about two dedicated female fans in Milwaukee who have a tradition of taking a picture while kissing him on each side of his face. That lighthearted spirit colors much of the material, like the throwback horn-driven “Tupelo Mississippi and ’57 Fairlane.” Hank Williams seems to inspire “Haul Off and Do It,” with Mickey Raphael blowing his trademark harmonica. “Restless” was written in 2000, after his girlfriend died in a car accident, but never made it into an album until now. It’s the epitome of his art, in two minutes describing his mindset for the past 18 years: “Roam around from town to town/Never want to settle down/I could never without you now/I’m restless.”

His audiences and fans Give Watson most of his ideas. The clever wordplay (He’s a farming trucker or maybe he’s a trucking farmer) in “David Buxkemper” was inspired by an email that Buxkemper sent to Watson in admiration for his trucking songs. Watson’s asked for more details on the farmer’s life to compose the song. Don Pawlak runs his pedal steel through a Leslie keyboard, giving it spacey twist. Watson made up “Inside View” where he heard fans at the side of the stage say those words during his live show at Austin’s Continental Club.

Classic country runs through the last third of the album with the yearning “You Weren’t Supposed to Feel This Good,” echoes of early Elvis in “Mama’s Smile,” his hard-driving Bakersfield telecaster in “Who Needs This Man” and fittingly, the echoes of Johnny Cash’s Tennessee 3 in “Run Away.” Watson is the modest sort, grateful to be still making strong records, claiming that he writes plenty of songs with a few good ones. His gift for the simple country song is on vivid display throughout. He’d probably be the first to admit that not all his records are masterpieces (although he does have several), but he never fails to deliver a sturdy, solid outing. Thankfully he’s not slowing down either.

—Jim Hynes