Gene Watson

Start | Country Music | Performers «G» | Gene Watson

Gene Watson

Gary Gene Watson (born October 11, 1943) is an American country singer. He is most famous for his 1975 hit "Love in the Hot Afternoon," his 1981 #1 hit "Fourteen Carat Mind," and his signature song "Farewell Party." Watson's long career has notched six number ones, 23 top tens and over 75 charted singles.

Press Reports

by Jim Casey | @TheJimCasey | February 10, 2020

Gene Watson Joins the Grand Ole Opry

After Vince Gill invited him to join the Grand Ole Opry on Jan. 17, Gene Watson was inducted into the esteemed organization by Opry member Steve Wariner on Feb. 7.

“I remember my induction night as humbling and overwhelming,” said Steve. “But tonight, it’s about Gene who is a great ambassador for country music and one of the best interpreters of a country song that ever lived.”

Gene, who made his Opry debut 55 years ago at the age of 21, scored a number of Top 10 hits in the 1970s and ’80s, including “Love in the Hot Afternoon,” “Paper Rosie,” “Fourteen Carat Mind,” “You’re Out Doing What I’m Here Doing Without” and more.

“It’s hard to find the words to say, so I guess better than talking I ought to sing,” said Gene. “So many people contributed to this wonderful night, and I make a promise to everyone to keep up the tradition of country music.”

Gene’s induction into the Opry follows recent inductees Luke Combs (July 2019), Kelsea Ballerini (April 2019), Mark Wills (January 2019), Dustin Lynch (September 2018) and Chris Janson (March 2018). photo by Curtis Hilbun, AFF-USA.com

Background information From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Biography

Watson was born in Palestine, Texas, in 1943. He began his music career in the 1960s, performing in local clubs at night while working in a Houston auto body shop during the day. He recorded for only a few small, regional record labels having a regional hit "Bad Water", until 1974, when Capitol Records picked up his album Love in the Hot Afternoon and released it nationally. The title track, a mid-tempo ballad in threequarter time, was released in June 1975, and it quickly reached Number three on the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart.

Watson's national success continued throughout the late 1970s and early 1980s, as he recorded several Billboard top-40 hits, including "Where Love Begins," "Paper Rosie," "Should I Go Home (or Should I Go Crazy)," "Nothing Sure Looked Good on You," and "Farewell Party," which was released in 1979 and quickly became Watson's signature song and the namesake of his Farewell Party Band.

In February 2012, Watson, celebrated his 50th year in the music business with the release of Best of the Best, 25 Greatest Hits (his very first single on radio "If It Was That Easy" released in 1962). The collection of songs were re-recorded to recreate the originals as closely as possible. The project was produced by Dirk Johnson and released on Watson's own Fourteen Carat Music label. In June 2014, Watson released an eleven track CD "My Heroes Have Always Been Country," all pure, classic country music, covering hits by some of his musical heroes such as Merle Haggard, Ray Price and Lefty Frizzell. On February 26, 2016 Gene Watson released his 33rd studio album titled "Real.Country.Music." This 13-track CD contains traditional country music and the first single release is "Enough For You", a song written by Kris Kristofferson.

In 2018, Watson released a Gospel music CD titled "My Gospel Roots". The first single from the 13-track release, "Old Roman Soldier" hit #1 on the Cashbox and Christian Servant Country Gospel charts in June 2018. Gene Watson was inducted into the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame in 2002 and inducted into the inaugural class of the Houston Music Hall of Fame in August 2013. In 2018 Watson received the "Entertainer of the Year" Award from the R.O.P.E. Awards, an honor he shared with singer, Jeannie Seely. It was the first time in the history of the Awards that there was a tie in any category.

The Farewell Party Band

The Farewell Party Band is Gene’s longtime backing band. They were named after his 1978 hit single “Farewell Party.”

Between 1982 and 1984 two studio albums were released credited to Gene Watson and the Farewell Party Band, the farewell Party Band backed Gene on one of his solo albums, and the Farewell Party Band released one studio album on their own.

Several notable musicians were members of the Farewell Party Band, such as Tony Booth. While many other members have played with them since the 1980s, below is a timeline of just the members during their recorded output.