WILLIAM DEAN WATSON

RIDING THE PICKUP – “Traitor”

Words and music: William Dean Watson
Rob Fenton: lap steel guitar
Charles James: upright bass
Graham Mansfield: mandolin
Darryl Poulsen: electric guitar, guitar
Nate Smith: fiddle
Adam Warner: snare
William Dean Watson: electric guitar, tenor guitar, vocal
Alan Zemaitis: piano
Arranged and produced by: William Dean Watson and Rob Fenton
Mixed and mastered by: William Dean Watson

I never said a vow before the preacher.
I never swore to love you till I die.
But I led you to believe that I would never leave;
Now I’m gone to California, and I didn’t even stop to say goodbye.

I’m a traitor to the simple love we shared.
You never should have trusted that I cared.
I played you false until I had your gentle heart ensnared;
I’m a traitor to the simple love we shared.

I found freedom here is southern California.
I found love that doesn’t try to tie me down.
But it left me feeling lost; I’ve learned that there’s a cost
When the only rule that matters is everybody’s right to play around.

I’m a traitor to the simple love we shared.
You never should have trusted that I cared.
I played you false until I had your gentle heart ensnared;
I’m a traitor to the simple love we shared.

I’m a traitor to the simple love we shared.
You never should have trusted that I cared.
I played you false until I had your gentle heart ensnared;
I’m a traitor to the simple love we shared.

I am calling my electric honky tonk collection Riding The Pickup – I can only apologize! The collection’s signature song is “Traitor!”. It dramatizes the renunciation of purely acoustic instrumentation as the jilting of an innocent love, echoing the feelings of abandonment the ’60s folk aficionados experienced and expressed when Bob Dylan “went electric”. I am sure there must have been some folk country musicians and fans who felt the same about electrified country music, but this was not in any way a generalized reaction of the kind Dylan encountered. In country and jazz, and in the popular Western Swing of the 1940s which combined the two genres, the arrival of electric guitars and, for Western Swing and honky tonk, lap steel slide guitars seems to have been more or less uncontroversial. It was, however, profoundly consequential, creating new sounds and associated music practices. Perhaps the image of a loss of innocence is not entirely inapt.

Honky tonk great Ernest Tubb hired some of the finest electric players to join his Texas Troubadours. Lap steel pioneer Jerry Byrd played with Tubb in the late 1940s¹. Leon Rhodes, adept at both simple country guitar melodies and rapid-fire jazz inflected solos, played electric guitar with the Texas Troubadours in the ’60s². Both went on to play in the Grand Ole Opry house band, ensuring their country music bona fides.
“Traitor!” leans on the electric lead / lap steel combination to reproduce the archetypal electric honky tonk sound, Darryl Poulsen providing the lead guitar and Rob Fenton the lap steel.

(1) You can hear Byrd’s iconic lap steel style on the Ernest Tubb & His Texas Troubadours’ classic A Woman Has Wrecked Many A Good Man, Decca 46113-A, Words and music: Jimmie Rodgers and Ernest Tubb, BMI Music / Ernest Tubb Music.
(2) Rhodes’ playing is showcased on Ernest Tubb & His Texas Troubadours: On Tour, Decca DL 4321, 1962.

RIDING THE PICKUP– “I’m Never Going Back To Albilene”

Words and music: William Dean Watson
Rob Fenton: lap steel guitar
Charles James: upright bass
Graham Mansfield: mandolin
Darryl Poulsen: electric guitar, guitar
Nate Smith: fiddle
Adam Warner: snare
William Dean Watson: electric guitar, tenor guitar, vocal
Alan Zemaitis: piano
Arranged and produced by: William Dean Watson and Rob Fenton
Mixed and mastered by: William Dean Watson
Words and music: William Dean Watson

I loved a girl in Abilene who broke my heart in two;
I caught her with another when she’d promised to be true.
I ran away to Austin and I just kept right on through,
But I’m never going back to Abilene.

I’ve been to towns where no-one leaves, and towns where no-one stays;
Towns where no-one sleeps, and towns where no-one plays.
I’ve been to pretty towns and ugly towns and everything between,
But I’m never going back to Abilene.

I loved a girl in Santa Fe, and one in Bakersfield.
I got engaged in Oakland but the deal was never sealed.
My heart would break each time I thought a new love had it healed,
But I’m never going back to Abilene.

I’ve been to towns where no-one leaves, and towns where no-one stays;
Towns where no-one sleeps, and towns where no-one plays.
I’ve been to pretty towns and ugly towns and everything between,
But I’m never going back to Abilene.

I’ve been to towns where no-one leaves, and towns where no-one stays;
Towns where no-one sleeps, and towns where no-one plays.
I’ve been to pretty towns and ugly towns and everything between,
But I’m never going back to Abilene.

No, I’m never going back to Abilene.

The aimless wandering of a brokenhearted man is one of fundamental narrative images found across the American country music genres. Jimmie Rodgers’ iconic “Travelin’ Blues”, where the soon-to-be itinerant narrator tells us “That I’m goin’ away, leaving today” and then only unconvincingly claims “I’m gonna bring my baby back” was, for instance, recorded by Bill Monroe and Bob Wills, the founding fathers of bluegrass and Western Swing, Gene Autry, the king of Hollywood cowboy pop, and honky tonk greats Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizell and Merle Haggard¹. I return to this ‘tale as old as time’ in a number of the collections I am constructing². “I’m Never Going Back To Abilene” is my electric honky tonk version. The tempo and feel are close to Ernest Tubb’s fidgety “I’m Walking The Floor Over You”, where the heartbreaker does the wandering while the narrator stays effectively frozen by his anguish³.

(1) Jimmie Rodgers: Travelin’ Blues, Victor 23564, 1931. Words and music: Shelley Lee Alley and Jimmie Rodgers, BMI Music / APRS. Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys: Decca 9-46380, 1951; Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys: on Riding Your Way – The Lost Transcriptions For Tiffany Music 1946 – 1947, Real Gone Music RGM-0244, 2014; Gene Autry (as Gene Johnson): Timely Tunes C-1552, 1931; Ernest Tubb: on The Daddy Of ’Em All – Ernest Tubb 1940 – 1952, MCA 9250-53, 1974; Lefty Frizell: C/w Blue Yodel No. 6, Columbia 20842, 1951; Merle Haggard: on Same Train – A Different Time, Capitol Records ST 21377, 1969.
(2) Along with I’m Never Going Back To Abilene, these are Travelin’ Blue in Straight Ahead Bluegrass, and Solitary Rambler, currently being completed for Shades of Western Pop.
(3) Decca 5958, 1941. Words and music: Ernest Tubb, Warner/Chappell Music Inc.