On the Record: Dale Watson Envisions a Party with Willie, Waylon, and Whiskey

Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Dale Watson has been railing against mainstream country music for decades. In a 1995 number called “Nashville Rash,” for example, he complained that “I’m too country now for country, just like Johnny Cash.” Added Watson: “[It] breaks my heart to see my heroes fadin’ away / Shoulda known it when they closed the Opry down / Things are bound to change in that town / You can’t grow when you rip the roots out of the ground.” Nashville might have changed, but in the three decades since he released that song, Watson has not. On the …