You don't know what you've got until it's gone.

This December 30th show at the Continental Club was more important than all the New Year's Eve shows in Austin. Dale Watson is moving to Baltimore to drive a UPS truck and spend more time with his kids. Read about it in the Austin Chronicle, and click title bar for his website. Dale is a Texas country music legend with a very devoted following all over the world, and people showed up for this little show from lots of states. It was as much a party as a show, as Dale was doing plenty of chatting and storytelling, talking to the audience, opening and sharing gifts (the pic shows a nice little Texas-shaped cake from the waitress), and drinking plenty of toasts as shots were provided in liberal amounts. More pics from the show are here. Opening was Jon Dee Graham, and Dale's guests were Guy Forsyth (Mr. Ukulele if you have one of Jon Dee's Naked calendars) and Gordy 'Grady" Johnson.

It was a sad goodbye, but a musician's life is not all that family-friendly. The compromises that need to be made are hard on the career and it's tough to find a balance that works out for everybody.

Dale and his devils are the subject of an upcoming documentary called "Crazy Again" and later a full-length feature called "Austin Angel", both from Zalman King (9-1/2 Weeks, Red Shoe Diaries).

Dale plays real country music, and not that plastic cardboard-cutout cowboy crap that Nashville churns out to make the awards shows look pretty. Music without integrity ain't worth listening to.


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