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This is how many of these songs were formed in the first place, and Watson just carries forward that heritage. This is Willie taking the orthodox, traditional approach of the folk singer to take what his predecessors have done and add his own spin. This isn’t Willie Watson contemporizing or re-writing these songs. There’s such a dedication that is behind this approach he’s chosen that it steals your attention and conveys an intimacy that alludes most music.Īnd though all of these songs have been heard by the world before, Willie Watson takes the old folk singer approach of making each composition his own by changing up the words while keeping the root composition the same. But that’s what’s so cool about it-it’s counter-intuitiveness that is also exactly what you would expect from Willie Watson solo, only even more so. Everything about Willie Watson’s approach is so dry, you expect it to fall flat on its face as a form of entertainment.
1 for crying out loud, and it starts off with the well-familiar “Midnight Special”. The name of this album is Folk Singer Vol. Stern faced and focused, he comes out and sings with such a fierceness, dedication and heart to the emotions and humanity behind the stories he’s singing about, I’ll be damned if Willie Watson doesn’t come across more like Woody Guthrie than Woody Guthrie. Instead he drew even further inward, took what he did and boiled it down even further to the kernel of his creative genius where he’s channeling with almost ghostly authenticity the very folk singers, country troubadours, and blues men he seeks to resurrect through his music.
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To become a solo artist, Willie Watson didn’t decide to create a more sensible approach, or learn how to be more personable and well-rounded as an entertainer. So here he is now striking out by himself, somewhat uncharacteristic, but at the same time holding uncompromisingly to what he is as a musician. And then when it was his turn to lead a song, it would be the more sensible traditional that kept the group grounded in its original, founding spirit. As Old Crow would descend into silliness all around him, with a strong jaw and sense of purpose, Willie would be the rock holding the entire thing together, holding steady on the acoustic guitar, acting as the guidepost for the band’s tempo and harmonies. Willie Watson was always the guy that blended best in the background, and that’s not meant as an insult, but more of an illustration of his somewhat selfless, straightforward, no nonsense approach to music. Nonetheless, fellow founders Ketch Secor and Critter Fuqua, and maybe to an extent the later edition, Gill Landry, have always been the outfit’s most out-front members. Old Crow has always done very well to make sure they portray themselves as just a gaggle of guys with no real frontman or formalized positions in the band. One of the founding members of Old Crow Medicine Show who left the formidable throwback outfit back in 2011, Willie Watson has re-emerged with a new album and a very, very old approach to country and folk music. The key here is that one guy, and that one guy only is the one and only Willie Watson. I’m sorry, but that’s just not enough to hold the listener’s ear for an entire album. So yeah, this isn’t Billy Bragg or Charlie Parr. Not to mention that this is an album entirely consisting of covers and traditionals.
You can’t take one guy, and one guy only, no overdubs or band, just acoustic instruments and a cued mic and call it good. On paper, nothing about this album should work.
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