You’re a natural entertainer, but does stage fright ever rear its head?
Gene Watson: It’s not a problem for me. Way down deep inside I’ve always been a people’s person. The audience makes up so much of my show. I go onstage and be myself. I never plan out a show or what song will be next. I always play it straight off the cuff and take note of whatever vein the crowd’s in. We try our best to do what the people wanna hear, and it usually works pretty good.
Was that always the case?
Gene Watson: You do have to go through a learning curve. No doubt about that. When I first started out, I used to play guitar onstage. I would hide behind it so I had something to do with my hands. About all I had to do was concentrate on singing the song and strumming. As I moved along, I eventually put the guitar down.
I worked with the greats like Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, and so many others. I studied their techniques and how they handled things. I would use that to my advantage. It finally evolved into what you see right now.
I wanna be every one of my fans. Not only do I want them as fans, I want them for friends. I try to display that when I’m onstage. It comes as a surprise to me sometimes how the people so quickly pick up on where you’re coming from and then you just slide right in there with them. Every crowd’s different. You want a great result out of each and every one of ‘em.