{"id":1318128,"date":"2020-02-07T09:58:48","date_gmt":"2020-02-07T16:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1817593"},"modified":"2020-02-07T09:58:48","modified_gmt":"2020-02-07T16:58:48","slug":"at-76-gene-watson-becomes-newest-member-of-the-grand-ole-opry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/music-news\/at-76-gene-watson-becomes-newest-member-of-the-grand-ole-opry\/","title":{"rendered":"At 76, Gene Watson Becomes Newest Member of the Grand Ole Opry"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

by Edward Morris<\/a><\/span>
\n15m ago<\/span>
\n<\/span> <\/p>\n

The Grand Ole Opry\u2019s glacial delay in picking Gene Watson as a member was surely one of the greatest cultural oversights of our time. But it will be remedied on Friday (Feb. 7) when the caramel-voiced singer officially joins the cast of the legendary stage show and radio broadcast. <\/p>\n

Critics have long considered Watson one of country music\u2019s supreme vocal stylists, rivaling the dramatic story-telling and mood-setting power of such singulars as George Jones, Vern Gosdin, Earl Thomas Conley and Willie Nelson.<\/p>\n

Now 76, Watson first played the Opry 55 years ago when he was just gaining national attention via his sultry 1975 single, \u201cLove in the Hot Afternoon.\u201d In an earlier interview with CMT.com, Watson recalled taking a gamble on the song. \u201cIt had already been recorded by several artists, one of them being Jim Ed Brown, if I\u2019m not mistaken. (It was in Brown\u2019s 1972 album, Evening<\/em>.) But they had kind of smoothed down the lyrics in it because it was pretty spicy for those days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I got hold of the song: the original demo. We were flying to Nashville, and I told my manager-producer, \u2019You know, I want to cut this song, but I want to cut it the way it was written.\u2019 I said, \u2019Let\u2019s just go for it, and if it gets played, OK, and if it don\u2019t, we haven\u2019t lost that much.\u2019 So I went in there and backed my ears, and we came up with the unique fiddle turnaround in it and, of course, Commercial Hurshel (Wiginton, a background singer) on that bass line in there \u2014 \u2019file gumbo.\u2019 It just turned out to be a good record.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was a very good record, indeed, one that laid the foundation for such soon-to-be classics as \u201cYou Could Know As Much About a Stranger,\u201d \u201cPaper Rosie,\u201d \u201cOne-Sided Conversation,\u201d \u201cNothing Sure Look Good on You,\u201d \u201cShould I Go Home or Should I Go Crazy,\u201d \u201cFourteen Carat Mind,\u201d \u201cMemories to Burn\u201d and the inconsolably mournful \u201cFarewell Party.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because Watson was so intent on recording only songs whose emotions he could identify with, they tended to inscribe themselves in the listener\u2019s mind, even when they didn\u2019t go No. 1 or Top 5.<\/p>\n

As a chart artist, Watson peaked in the mid-1980s, but as a crowd-pleaser, his allure has never dimmed. In his recordings of such pop standards as \u201cAt Last\u201d and \u201cWhat a Difference a Day Made,\u201d he showed that his vocals were as suited to supper clubs as honky tonks. <\/p>\n

In 2011, he teamed up with bluegrass queen Rhonda Vincent for the album, Your Money and My Good Looks<\/em>. The two continue to play occasional shows together. His My Heroes Have Always Been Country<\/em> from 2014 featured covers of such immortals as \u201cLong Black Veil,\u201d \u201cSlide Off Your Satin Sheets,\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s Not Love (But It\u2019s Not Bad)\u201d and \u201cMake the World Go Away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Never one to leave a musical base uncovered, in 2017, Watson treated his fans with the collection My Gospel Roots<\/em>. And he has not slowed down. His website lists more than 50 shows scheduled for the coming year.<\/p>\n

When he surprised Watson on the Grand Ole Opry stage back in January to tell him he\u2019d been invited to become a member, Vince Gill told the crowd, \u201cHe\u2019s one of the greatest country singers that\u2019s walked the earth.\u201d There\u2019s no argument there.<\/p>\n

\n
Edward Morris is a veteran of country music journalism. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a frequent contributor to CMT.com. <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

via:: CMT News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Edward Morris 15m ago The Grand Ole Opry\u2019s glacial delay in picking Gene Watson as a member was surely one of the greatest cultural oversights of our time. But it will be remedied on Friday (Feb. 7) when the caramel-voiced singer officially joins the cast of the legendary stage show and radio broadcast. Critics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1318128","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 05:24:31","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1318128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318128\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1318128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1318128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1318128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}