10 Questions with ... Aaron Watson

BRIEF CAREER SYNOPSIS:

Facebook: www.facebook.com/aaronwatsonmusic
Twitter: @aaron_watson

BIG Label Records' Aaron Watson has made a name for himself by starting out in Texas. With thirteen albums released since the start of his career, Watson continues to put out music that allows him to stay true to his roots. His most recent album, "Vaquero," peaked at #2 on the US Country Charts; his current single, "Outta Style," has made its own way into the Top 30 on the Mediabase Country singles chart. Watson will also take the stage at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium this October. With many accomplishments and no support from a major label, Watson plans to keep trucking on to support his family and fans.

1. You were born in Amarillo, TX, and I think it's safe to say that Texas runs in your blood and definitely influences your sound. Tell us about how your love for music started and how growing up in Texas has impacted you.

I go back and think about when I fell in love with music, and I really can't find the very moment in time. I think music's just always been around me, thanks to my mom and dad. My dad has told me that after he was injured in Vietnam during the war, music played a huge role in his rehab; it kept him uplifted when he was having hard times. So, several years later, I came around; I was born into a family where dad was always playing vinyl records, and mom was always singing. I jokingly say that mom would thump me in the back of the head during church if I wasn't singing, so that encouraged me to participate. I was raised in the Church of Christ, and it's all acapella, so there's nowhere for bad notes to go. You better hit the note, or everyone's gonna hear it. Of course, when I went home, dad was always playing Waylon, Willie, Merle Haggard, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Frank Sinatra - such diversity from such great artists that I feel like gave me a great foundation. As I got older, I started wanting to write my own songs and started paying attention to lyrics. My first love was baseball; I wanted to be a Major League player when I grew up. My mom said that was great, but that I needed a backup plan. I think she was referring to being a lawyer or a doctor, and I was like, "I'll be a Country singer!" From the beginning, mom and dad have always supported me. There's only been one thing that mom made me promise when I was first getting started, twenty years ago: to never have a beer sponsorship. Years later, we built all this momentum, and we've had some offers on the table for beer sponsorships, and I had to tell them, "I can't, because my mom won't let me." If you lie to your momma, what does that say about you? I'm a total momma's boy, so I've told some folks at some of the largest beer companies in America that momma said, "No." God's blessed us in so many ways; I grew up loving all kinds of music, but Country music - traditional Country music - has my heart.

2. You've had quite a few albums released - thirteen, to be exact - with "Vaquero" being the most recent. After Googling the meaning of "Vaquero," I learned that it means 'cowboy' in Spanish. What made you decide to go with this title for the album?

After "Underdog" went #1, we started getting some comments from people in the industry, and a lot of them were giving us constructive criticism and opinions, but a lot were saying, "If you really wanna go big time, you have to stop being a regional act. You have to get away from this Texas cowboy thing." I took a step back, and thought, "Independently, we sold more albums than a lot of the artists on your label, and you're telling me what I need to do to make it big time." For me to stop being Texas, stop being cowboy, and stop singing songs about faith and family, then I'm not being me anymore, and I have a problem with that. I don't have anything against Pop Country acts, or guys that wear skinny jeans. There are so many talented artists out there, and you should love them for their music, not how they dress. Everyone has their own style, but you're not gonna get me into a pair of skinny jeans! I'm not gonna turn my baseball cap backwards, and I won't cut the sleeves off of my t-shirts - that's not me. There's nothing wrong with that, but it's just not me, and there's no way I'm gonna sell-out on these fans that have supported me for nearly twenty years. "Vaquero" means cowboy, and the Vaquero was the original cowboy. The Spanish cowboy had a huge influence on the American cowboy. On the album cover, I'm holding up my guitar in a little bit of a rebellious stance, with a Texas flag painted on an old brick wall behind me. It's my way of saying, "This is who I am." It's silly to think that, because I'm from Texas and like to sing cowboy songs, that that makes me a 'regional act.' I use this as a great example to people in the industry who tell me this. I say, "I was a West Texas boy growing up, and I had several CDs that were West Coast rap, so don't you think if a Country boy from West Texas can appreciate the music of an artist on the West Coast, don't you think that the rest of the world can appreciate a West Texas boy singing his brand of music?" I mean, Jimmy Buffet sings songs about the islands - the people in the Midwest don't have islands. With The Beach Boys, they were huge around the world in places where there were no beaches. Music is about heart and soul; it's about putting out a product that's authentic. The fans know when a song is just something that people threw together, trying to chase a number on a chart - they know! Those songs might go #1, but eventually, they're gonna go away. It's the songs that are about nothing but heart and soul that get played at weddings and funerals, and become part of somebody's life. As a songwriter, when you have your song get to be a part of someone's life, that's the greatest compliment. For me, "Vaquero" was getting back to the basics - the foundation of who I am, the music I've been making. For the people who say I'm a regional act, I just kinda chuckle, because if I'm a regional act, it's a region called 'the world,' because I've played 40 states and 10 countries in the last couple years. I use my career and my story as a way to uplift those who come to my shows. If you have a dream, don't you dare let anybody discourage you from that! Get out there and work hard for it, and you earn it. It didn't come easy for me, but if you're willing to hustle, then the stars are the limit.

3. The title track of the album, "Vaquero," tells the story of an old Vaquero sitting at a bar, sharing his life story and giving advice. Is this track inspired by a true story? Or, is there a specific person/situation that inspired the lyrics?

We played at a bar a long time ago in Uvalde, TX, and there was an old man sitting there at the bar. He was there early as we were sound-checking and loading equipment in. I ended up having a great conversation with him, and of course, I'm a songwriter, and I may elaborate on this or that for the song, but it starts off with, "This old Mexican cowboy at the bar looked a hundred years old..." The style of the song is one of those things that's out of the textbook Guy Clark or Jerry Jeff Walker, two legendary Texas singer/songwriters who also made a good living in Nashville, as well. Story songs are so important, and they're entertaining; they're the meat of an album. They're definitely the cowboy part of my music - the cowboy poetry. I thank the fans for helping me bring the cowboy back to Country music. This song probably won't ever be a single, but I get up there and sing it acoustically and everybody sings along and goes crazy for it. It's about love, really, and getting good advice from an old man who's lived life and knows what you're supposed to do.

4. Your current single, "Outta Style," recently hit Top 30 on the Mediabase Country singles chart, which marks your highest charting single to date. As an independent artist, this is not easy to accomplish. Can you talk about the journey of this song - writing it, picking it as the album's lead single, etc.?

With all my albums, I like to record the bulk of the album within a week span, and I love to record 80% right then and there. I go into the studio prepared. So, we record, then I take home the rough mixes, and I listen over the next two to three weeks. As I'm listening, I think to myself, "What does this album need to be complete? What's it lacking?" Sometimes, it's that the album needs a good Waltz or a dance hall shuffle, or it needs a good, upbeat song. I listened to these songs for three weeks, and I just knew I needed another good love song. I needed a ballad and a good rockin' song. So, I flew home and spent the entire day with the kids, but that night, my mom and dad came over to babysit the kids so that my wife and I could go out on a date to our favorite restaurant, Perini Ranch [Steakhouse]. We were sitting at the table - it's a dark room, and the best place in the world - and we were talking about the music industry, my career, and the family, saying, "It's crazy that so much has changed, and some things are still the same." And, I constantly have people say, "Your traditional sound doesn't fit the format." I've gotten that my entire career, and I respect that and everybody's opinion. But, this is who I am. I'm not going away, and I'm not gonna change, so you might as well hug me and start loving me. But, as we were sitting there at dinner, I came up with the line, "The trends will come and go, the winds of change will blow, but the way we love is never going out of style," because [love] is the one factor that never changes. We've seen formats, music, and styles change, artists come and go, but love is that one concrete factor that keeps this whole thing together. "Outta Style" is a fun, upbeat song, and it's my story about my musical journey and my marriage. The one thing that's always important is that, for me, the song has to go well live. People gotta hear that song and think, "I love that song! Where can I get it?" And this song has that beat and the infectious melody. We're just so excited. If #29 is the best that song does, we wanna thank every radio station, no matter how big or small, for playing us, and we love ya. We're thankful and blessed to be where we're at. I think the most important thing that all the listeners need to know is that 100% of proceeds from my music is going into my wife's purse. It's not about supporting my music, it's about supporting my wife and kids.

5. Your motto is, "We don't chase phases, stages, or flavors of the month. We stay true to our brand. We work hard, and we ride a horse named 'Hustle.'" Since the music industry is constantly shifting, there's always pressure to release mainstream music. How have you dealt with remaining true to what you want to release as an artist?

This sounds terrible, and I don't want anybody to be upset with me, but I don't listen to what the biggest hits are - I just focus on what's on my heart. Luke Bryan does the best version of Luke Bryan out of anyone I've ever seen; Thomas Rhett does the best version of Thomas Rhett that I've ever seen. Aaron Watson can't be Luke Bryan or Thomas Rhett - Aaron Watson doesn't want to be them. God has blessed me with my own talents and abilities. He blesses everyone with their own unique talents and abilities, and everyone needs to strive to be the best versions of themselves. If I'm gonna drop off inspiration, I'm gonna draw from the legends, from the guys who wrote the book - Johnny Cash, Willie [Nelson], and Waylon [Jennings]. That's who I draw inspiration from. People's jaws drops when I say this, but my album, "Vaquero," was greatly inspired by The Beatles' White Album. It has tons of songs on it - Rock, Pop, Folk, and Country-sounding songs on there. Basically, there were no rules - it was just guys going into the studio and making music they love. No doubt that our success with our latest single has been so exciting - you have to realize it's taken me 18 years to have a Top 40 single. I don't know what it's charted as this week, but I'm as proud as anyone's ever been of having a #1 hit, because we've worked hard every step of the way, and we did things our way. I had an opportunity, early in my career, where I had a few record labels interested in me, and I had that chance to visit one of the biggest record executives in the industry, and had the opportunity to sing him some songs. He told me, at best, I was a regional act, and that I didn't have any type of commercial appeal. He basically said I didn't have what it takes, and I'll never forget, because it broke my heart. For me, I felt my dream come crashing down. I got back home to Amarillo, and I told my dad, "They don't like my songs, they don't like my singing - I don't think they like anything about me." And, my dad said, "Hey, that's okay! That's the same thing they told Willie for all those years, and Willie finally made it big-time by the time he was 45." At the time, I was about 20, and I said, "Dad, are you telling me I have to grind it out for the next 25 years if I wanna make it?" And, my dad grinned, and said, "Yeah, if you want it bad enough." That really had a huge impact on my career path. At that point, I realized that I wasn't here for the record labels; I'm here for the fans, and I'm gonna stick to my brand of my Country music, and we're gonna work hard. We're gonna take care of every radio station, whether they're the largest station in the nation or the smallest power in the county, we're gonna treat everyone as if they're the most important person in the world. That's been my business model for 18 years now, and - I'll be honest with you - it took a long time to get that wagon rolling. It's kinda like that snowball at the top of the mountain; it starts off small, moving very slow, but once it starts gaining size and momentum, that's when you're making it happen. I'm not a star - I don't want to be a star - I'm just a Country boy that lives in a very small town, and I love Country music, I love Country radio, and I love Country music fans. What people also need to understand is that, for me, music's not an industry; it's a family business.

6. Even as an independent artist and your own "CEO," you have managed to make a name for yourself, without the help of a huge label backing you. What advice could you give to those who are dreaming of a career in Country music, but have no idea where to start?

First of all, this is not 1985, it's not 1995, and it's not 2005. With social media, streaming, and downloads, the game has changed, and I definitely have the new business model. We have taken the assets and the opportunities we have at our fingertips and made the most of them. Whether it's promoting shows or albums, merchandise - music is a business, and if you wanna be a Country singer, then be a Country singer. You need to learn how to play guitar, sing, write songs, become a showman, responsibility, how to manage your finances, and how to stock up on merch. I compare it to a small hamburger business; you cannot run that business until you know how to make a hamburger and fry the fries. You gotta know how to restock, prep, and all those things. For us, it's about good business, and at the end of the day, I always get asked if I'd sign a record deal. I say, "I'm about a good joint venture and good business deals." I have over two dozen employees with kids, and it's my responsibility to make good decisions to take care of them. For all of those folks out there, regardless of age, if you wanna be an artist, then be an artist! First and foremost, you need to have a great product. Make an album that's so good that when people get into somebody's car while your song is playing, they ask all their friends, "Who is this?!" That's what we've always done. We've always given 110% to make the best album that we're capable of making, and our albums go viral - maybe not viral on the internet, but it's going viral in real life with word-of-mouth. I tell a lot of artists that obviously streaming music is a big topic right now, and there's no doubt that they're gonna have to figure out a better way of doing things, but even streaming music right now - where I think I get paid a dollar for every ten billion streams or whatever the rate is - we use that to our advantage. How many times has someone come to my show and bought a $25 ticket to come watch me sing? Then, they buy a hat, a shirt, and they come up to me afterwards. After every show, I hang out at the merch booth until the venue kicks us out. I've had people come up to me, saying, "Hey, I've never heard of you, but I heard you on this station," or "I heard you on this streaming service." So, it's one of those deals that you must use all of these things to your advantage. I tell artists, "If you want it, go out and get it." If Mr. Record Executive says you're not good enough, just remember what Aaron Watson's dad said - that's the same thing they told Willie for all those years! Willie is bigger than Country music - he's his own genre; he's Willie. And, that's a guy who I look up to. I got to sing a song with Willie, I got to play shows with him, and Willie makes music not to be famous or rich, but because it's his heart. Be kind and be loving to those around you - Willie is Willie, and I'm constantly amazed by how kind he is to everyone around him. I also have to brag about Ms. Reba, the queen of Country music. I had the pleasure of going on vacation with my wife and three kids, and Reba was there. For the whole week, I got to hang out with Reba. Yes, Reba is so talented, but what's even more amazing than her voice is her heart; she was so kind to anyone and everyone we met. I got to go shopping with Reba, and we walked in, and girls in that store just about flipped out, but she was so kind. I will tell young artists this: I don't care if you're tired after a show, you get out there, and you hang out at your merch booth. Shake hands, give hugs, take selfies, listen to stories, and take the time to show your fans that you love and appreciate them. You are never too big to do that. Garth Brooks has proved that and set the standard. Everybody should follow the example that Garth set; it's all about the fans! Garth's not having #1 songs on the radio anymore, but you sure would think that he's at the top of the charts everywhere he goes. I believe with all my heart that's decades of Garth Brooks taking the time to love on his fans. It makes an impact; it made an impact on me! Garth's such an incredible example. I'm forever grateful for the kindness he shows people and the quality of music he puts out. If I bring up Garth, I have to talk about Chris LeDoux, because Chris was the same way, and he is one of my other cowboy heroes. If I bring up Chris, I have to bring up his son, Ned, who has an incredible new album out. So, if you haven't heard of Ned LeDoux, go listen to him.

7. You've also had your own exhibit at the Country Music Hall Of Fame in 2015, after your album, "The Underdog" hit #1 on the Country Billboard chart. What has been the coolest thing to happen to you throughout your career, if you can name one?

Singing with Willie was amazing. Making history by having the first independent album to chart #1, that still kinda blows my mind. One time I got a phone call from Lyle Lovett about one of my albums, and he told me that he and his mom loved it. Getting to headline the Houston Rodeo in front of 70,000 people. But, when I got to play the Grand Ole Opry for the first time, my mom and dad flew out to Nashville and celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary that night. We got babysitters to watch the kids, and I flew my wife, Kimberly, out to Nashville, too. All day I was doing interviews, and they all asked about how I felt about playing the Opry, and I was like, "The more y'all talk about it, the more nervous I'm getting!" It had me tied up in knots, and I'll never forget Charlie Daniels being there, and I was thinking, "I wish someone would escort him out, because I'm already nervous enough! I don't need one of the greatest of all time watching me." My mind was completely scrambled - it was sold out, there were 5,000 people, they introduced me, and I had butterflies like I never had before. So, I walked up to the mic - and, every artist knows that when you play the Opry, your family and friends are sitting back behind you on the church pews - but, my wife, without letting me know, got online and bought a ticket so she could sit right in front of me to watch me play. I'm telling you, it gets me teary-eyed just talking about it, but I was so nervous, and when I got on the stage, and my girl was sitting right there in front of me, I'll never forget - she had her hands almost as if she was praying and a big smile on her face. When I saw her, I immediately started getting emotional, then I look up - without knowing where my parents were sitting - but I guess since I'm a momma's boy, I looked up and the first thing I saw was my mom. I felt my voice quiver, but then I completely forgot about my nerves, and we knocked it out of the park. It was an amazing moment, and one I'll never forget.

8. You've played shows around the world. How would you describe an "Aaron Watson concert" to someone who's never seen you live before? And, tell us what your favorite song to play live is.

My band is good - I'm telling you, they would go places if they had a good singer! We bring more energy to that stage than a Rock 'n' Roll band - there's fiddles, Telecaster guitars, dynamics, moments when you're happy, moments when I share my heart. I sing songs that I wrote for my wife and ones I wrote for my kids. You know me after you've been to my show, and you know that I'm totally crazy about my family and Jesus, that I screw up, and that I'm flawed, but I'm passionate about the things I love. It's not about perfection, it's about persistence. And, if I had to pick one song, it'd be "July In Cheyenne" - a song I wrote for Lane Frost's mom. For those of you who don't know, Lane Frost was a world champion bull rider who died 28 years ago at the Cheyenne rodeo. This is a special song, because it's the first song I wrote after my wife and I lost our little girl, Julia Grace. We lost her shortly after she was born, and after that, I struggled getting back up on a stage. There were moments where I asked myself, "Is this what I'm supposed to be doing for a living? God, is this what you want me to do?" And, one night, I came across something that Lane's mother said about him, and it really got me refocused on my faith. I share this story every night, because there has to be somebody out there going through some form of heartache, and I pray that my story will bring them hope and comfort just like Lane's mom did for me. What she said was so sweet and simple, but it hit the bullseye. She said, "Lane was a world champion bull rider, but that wasn't his greatest achievement. Lane's greatest achievement came a year before he died, when he asked Jesus Christ to be his Lord and Savior." When I heard her say that, I felt that burden lift off my heart.

9. Speaking of live performances, you're gearing up to headline a show at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, which is something you've said is on your bucket list. What are a few other career goals you have on your bucket list?

Honestly, I don't have a bucket list anymore, but the only thing on there is to continue working hard and make a living for my family. Would I be super excited and do double back flips if we had a #1 song? Absolutely. Will I do the same if it makes it to Top 10? Absolutely. You have to be thankful for the blessings God gives you. I've already started working on a new album - I think that's one of the perks of being the CEO and custodian of your own label. I don't have anybody saying, "We don't need to worry about another album right now, it's not time." I'm a songwriter; I've gotta write songs. You gotta strike while the iron is hot, and right now, I'm writing some songs. I feel like I'm in tip-top shape, as far as my songwriting goes. It only took me 20 years to get here, so there's no turning back now. We feel like we belong here, and we also have so much to learn, so it's an exciting time for us.

10. You've accomplished so much already in the first half of the year. What do you have planned for the rest of 2017?

We have a ton of shows - we've already been to Europe twice, we're wrapping up Summer, and I'm taking the family to the lake. We're also playing lots of fairs, festivals, and rodeos. My little girl makes me take her to Disney World every Christmas, so you can bet we're doing that again. We're just gonna keep doing what we're doing: working hard. I look forward to meeting new people and making new friends. We're blessed to do what we love; we love Country music, Country radio, and the fans. There's no doubt that, when we have these really big moments, we really savor the flavor.