{"id":270641,"date":"2026-04-29T01:26:21","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T01:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/270641\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T01:26:21","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T01:26:21","slug":"ameripolitan-icon-dale-watson-releases-new-album-unwanted-and-hits-the-road-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/270641\/","title":{"rendered":"Ameripolitan Icon Dale Watson Releases New Album &#8216;Unwanted&#8217; and Hits the Road Hard"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thatericalper.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/download-17-8.jpg\" data-caption=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"696\" class=\"entry-thumb td-modal-image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/download-17-8-696x696.jpg\"   alt=\"\" title=\"download (17)\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Dale Watson doesn\u2019t follow trends. He never has. The acclaimed Ameripolitan icon has released \u2018Unwanted\u2019 via 40 Below Records, an entirely self-written and self-produced album that delivers exactly what his most devoted fans and the country music tradition demand: lean, hard-hitting honky-tonk, outlaw country, western swing, and rockabilly from one of American roots music\u2019s most uncompromising originals.<\/p>\n<p>Backed by his longtime band The Lonestars and joined by Celine Lee, The Memphians, Katie Shore of Asleep at the Wheel, and pianist Matt Hubbard, \u2018Unwanted\u2019 carries the kind of lived-in authenticity that critics keep reaching for superlatives to describe. MOJO gave it four stars, Country Music People called him \u201cthe Ameripolitan torchbearer,\u201d and Americana Highways put it simply: \u201cOthers drink ginger ale and smile; Watson is bourbon with a bite.\u201d PopMatters puts his catalog \u201cin the same jukebox as Willie, Waylon, Ernest Tubb, and Bob Wills,\u201d and Saving Country Music calls him \u201cthe true embodiment of country.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Watson has shared stages with Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Ray Price, Loretta Lynn, and Dwight Yoakam, and has appeared on Austin City Limits, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and Late Show with David Letterman. None of it has pulled him off the road. \u201cI still play over 300 shows a year,\u201d he says. \u201cThat\u2019s where the truth is. That\u2019s where the songs tell you if they\u2019re real.\u201d As founder of the Ameripolitan Music Awards and an honored Texas State Musician, Watson views \u2018Unwanted\u2019 as part of a living tradition. \u201cOutlaw country isn\u2019t nostalgia. It\u2019s alive, it\u2019s loud, and it\u2019s still being written.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tour Dates:<\/p>\n<p>May 2, Austin, TX, Broken Spoke<\/p>\n<p>May 2, Austin, TX, Brentwood Neighborhood Park<\/p>\n<p>May 4, Austin, TX, The Continental Club<\/p>\n<p>May 9, Yantis, TX, Neon Moon Restaurant &amp; Social Club<\/p>\n<p>May 11, Austin, TX, The Continental Club<\/p>\n<p>May 16, West Jackson, TN, Ned R McWherter TN Cultural Arts<\/p>\n<p>May 17, Nashville, TN, Eastside Rockin\u2019 Rumble<\/p>\n<p>May 21, Houston, TX, McGonigal\u2019s Mucky Duck<\/p>\n<p>May 22, Coupland, TX, Coupland Dancehall<\/p>\n<p>May 23, Austin, TX, Rollins Theatre<\/p>\n<p>May 24, New Braunfels, TX, Gruene Hall<\/p>\n<p>May 25, Austin, TX, The Continental Club<\/p>\n<p>May 28, Austin, TX, Parker Jazz Club<\/p>\n<p>May 29, Memphis, TN, Memphis Italian Fest at Marquette Park<\/p>\n<p>May 31, Llano, TX, Sundown<\/p>\n<p>June 6, Dallas, TX, Sons of Hermann Hall<\/p>\n<p>June 7, Buchanan Dam, TX, Pardners Nightclub Largest Dancehall<\/p>\n<p>June 10, Tomball, TX, Main Street Crossing<\/p>\n<p>June 13, Lewisville, TX, Lewisville Grand Theater<\/p>\n<p>June 20, Austin, TX, Broken Spoke<\/p>\n<p>June 21, Llano, TX, Sundown<\/p>\n<p>June 25, St. Louis, MO, Off Broadway<\/p>\n<p>June 26, Columbia, MO, Rose Music Hall<\/p>\n<p>June 27, Kansas City, MO, Knuckleheads<\/p>\n<p>July 2, Corpus Christi, TX, House of Rock<\/p>\n<p>July 3, Austin, TX, The Continental Club<\/p>\n<p>July 4, Taylor, TX, American Legion Post 39<\/p>\n<p>July 9, Livingston, MT, Empire Twin Theatre<\/p>\n<p>July 18, Austin, TX, Broken Spoke<\/p>\n<p>July 19, Llano, TX, Sundown<\/p>\n<p>July 24, Coupland, TX, Coupland Dancehall<\/p>\n<p>August 1, Austin, TX, Broken Spoke<\/p>\n<p>August 7, Robinson, ND, Hanson\u2019s Bar<\/p>\n<p>September 4, Bandera, TX, 11th Street Cowboy Bar<\/p>\n<p>September 5, Austin, TX, Broken Spoke<\/p>\n<p>September 30, Cleveland, OH, Beachland Ballroom<\/p>\n<p>October 8, Columbus, MS, Barn Concert Series<\/p>\n<p>October 9, Decatur, GA, Eddie\u2019s Attic<\/p>\n<p>October 16, Evansville, IN, Vanderburgh 4-H Center<\/p>\n<p>November 7, Lockhart, TX, Manny Gammage\u2019s Texas Hatters Inc<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dale Watson doesn\u2019t follow trends. He never has. The acclaimed Ameripolitan icon has released \u2018Unwanted\u2019 via 40 Below&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":270642,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[17432,132,134,133,100765,100766,100767,87128,34121,100768,20944,100769,100770,100771,100772,100773,100774,100775],"class_list":["post-270641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-austin","tag-asleep-at-the-wheel","tag-austin","tag-austin-headlines","tag-austin-news","tag-beachland-ballroom","tag-broken-spoke","tag-celine-lee","tag-continental-club","tag-dale-watson","tag-eddies-attic","tag-gruene-hall","tag-katie-shore","tag-knuckleheads","tag-matt-hubbard","tag-off-broadway","tag-sons-of-hermann-hall","tag-the-lonestars","tag-the-memphians"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=270641"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/270641\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/270642"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=270641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=270641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=270641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}