I knew little about Aaron Watson before listening to this album, and yet now I feel like I perfectly understand him. That is, in essence, what an album should do; that or tell a story, unearth a specific meaning or message, or sometimes all three. After releasing scores of albums and achieving regional popularity on the Texas music scene, Aaron has gradually because palatable to Nashville, or at least in this time of bro-country saturation, he’s begun to be appreciated by those who yearn for something different. Something more substantial, something that feeds your soul. Of course, he didn’t get there without a fight, and his forthright closing track ‘Fence Post’ directly tackles (often in a spoken word style similar to Johnny Cash) the Music Row executives who tried to convince to sell out and become more “commercial”. After rejecting that in favor of his own sound and values, he laughs at how he is suddenly exactly what those executives are looking for (‘That Look’ recently became his first ever single to chart on the main Billboard country charts, reaching #41 on Hot Country Songs before dropping off).
So ‘The Underdog’, as a title, is intensely appropriate. Fighting for years to be heard and to build a fanbase, ‘Fence Post’ is one of the most powerful tracks on the record for its criticism of bro-country (“cause God knows I’d never sell my soul to Rock ‘n’ Roll or rap or wear those tight skinny jeans”) and for its acknowledgement that no matter how different you are, you can make it in this business and find the fans that will appreciate you. You just have to keep going. That’s a sentiment that also appears in the title track, a pretty little mid-tempo song that is reminiscent of Lee Ann Womack’s smash hit ‘I Hope You Dance’, both lyrically and melodically. It’s a song for his children, like Lee Ann’s, and while the chorus errs on the side of cheese the verses say it all. “Don’t you ever lose that sparkle in your eyes, don’t bottle up your passion like a jar of fireflies… If you’re down for the count, one strike away, choke up and crowd the plate and put the ball in play.” Aaron continues singing about his children on the harrowingly sad ‘Bluebonnets (Julia’s Song)’, that despite not dwelling too heavily on the loss of his young daughter Julia Grace back in 2011, brings the tears for its advice on living and not taking advantage of the moments that matter. For a man who first reached a mass audience with the much more mainstream country ‘That Look’, about love and infatuation for a woman, he clearly has a lot more up his sleeve to totally take listeners off guard.
And it’s true, he has plenty of tracks on this album that function as solid, neo-traditional country love songs, such as ‘One of Your Nights’, ‘Blame It On Those Baby Blues’, ‘That’s Gonna Leave A Mark’ and ‘That’s Why God Loves Cowboys’ (a little pandering to the Texas demographic, but cute and actually fairly gender equal all the same). It’s clear he pulls off this style well, and each song is enjoyable and clever in its own way. But it was the more subversive tracks that interested me. Opener ‘The Prayer’ recalls bluegrass and old Celtic folk music in its melody and epic religious folklore tale, while ‘Rodeo Queen’ plays with structure, arrangement and production for an at once harder rock, but also sparser exploration of sound and style that immediately catches your attention. The same can be said for ‘Freight Train’ and ‘Getaway Truck’, both of which combine elements of bluegrass and rock for fast-paced ditties that are energetic and a lot of fun, complete with Brad Paisley-esque instrumentals (if Brad took a drink from the twang fountain).
For Aaron, it seems the most important things in his life are music, family, faith, love, and his home in the South (the gorgeous ‘Family Tree’ sums up all of these), and all of this comes across in droves largely without resorting to clichés or cheesy lines. In fact, I get a picture of a man with much experience in this business, who knows what he is capable of but also knows where he can expand and explore. He knows exactly who he is, knows he’s probably too old now to record yet another banal drinking song, and knows there is much “good” music outside of Texas to consume and influence him, to help him evolve into an artist with more depth. When an artist is that clear about their identity in a record that someone like me, who knows virtually nothing about him, can gather an image of who they are and who they could be, that’s a pretty impressive feat. Too many people these days are just writing a bunch of individual fun songs that they like and throwing them together. Aaron Watson made an album, and it’s a damn good one at that.
Plus, anyone who can record John Mayer’s fabulous ‘Wildfire’ and do it justice is, in my opinion, epic.
