Red River Entertainment Releases
The Truckin’ Sessions Trilogy
Dale Watson Adds 3rd to Truckin’ Sessions Collection
AUSTIN, TEXAS — Back in 1998, maverick country traditionalist Dale Watson issued a 14-song collection of songs in the tradition of Red Simpson, Merle Haggard, Red Sovine and Dave Dudley called The Truckin’ Sessions. A decade later and Watson released another 14-song outing, The Truckin’ Sessions 2.
Now, the self-titled “Ameripolitan” artist is adding another new 14-song set, The Truckin’ Sessions 3, to the group, and Red River Entertainment will release them all in one package, The Truckin’ Sessions Trilogy, on July 8. 
As with the first two releases, Truckin’ Sessions 3 is an immediately likable set and it doesn’t matter if the listeners are even truckers. “The first two got great response, and a lot of women really liked the songs,” Watson said. “That really did surprise me.”
Watson stays true to form on the album, writing and recording without the use of modern effects and not trying to appeal to the current state of so-called “Country” music. Rather, Watson follows the tradition set by country troubadours like Ernest Tubb , Hank Williams, Sr., Bob Wills, Waylon Jennings, among others. All the songs on the The Truckin’ Sessions Trilogy could easily have been written in the 1960s.
Watson manages some swing with “Texas Armadillo” and keeps humor alive on songs like “Suicide Sam,” “Phillip At The Station,” and “Lugnutt Harry.” Watson is joined by duet partner Amber Digby for the charming “We’re Trucking Along,” which may be the first-ever truckin’ song duet.
“Birmingham Breakdown” and “I’m A Truckin’” are right in the middle-of-the-hammer lane, while the Haggard-esque “It’s Been A Long Truckin’ Day” will appeal to anyone who works hard for a living. Watson’s Lone Stars display some blistering playing on “10-100.” Of particular note is “Freewheelin’” which Watson wrote live as a guest on Sirius XM Radio’s Roaddog Show, during which truckers called in and gave Watson the actual lines of the song!
Watson’s father was a trucker who moonlighted as a country singer so his love of the big rigs and truckin’ songs came honestly. Watson grew up in the CB Generation when songs like “Convoy,” “Teddy Bear” and “Six Days On The Road” were part of mainstream country radio playlists. “There’s a definite style of music that has to be used when writing a truckin’ song,” Watson explains. “The words mean a lot. You can’t cover them up with a wall of music.”
Born in Alabama, raised outside of Houston and based in Austin, Watson first emerged on the music scene in the mid 1990s, bringing with him a hardscrabble honky-tonk tradition that has won him an international following, earned him induction into the Austin Music Hall of Fame and established him as a leading crusader against the “Nashville Rash” plaguing the country music industry. Without compromising his musical values, he sounds here like a singer with nothing to prove and no one to fight.
Watson wrote all the songs on The Truckin’ Sessions 3, and produced them using his own Lone Stars band. The results are pure Dale Watson.
http://www.theconnextion.com/dalewatson/