Ask Dale Watson if he can spare any change and you just might get lucky. Such was the case for one fan, April 22 at the Rhythm Room in Phoenix when Watson and his Lone Stars took to the stage for a typical marathon performance.

Watson is the cowboy with no cowboy hat. His boots, plain black with no frills, have the high gloss of paten leather. You won’t find him wearing one of those god-awful, garish “cowboy” shirts so popular on the Nashville scene. Nope, Watson prefers a simple shirt with his signature black leather vest and thigh length top-coat. And then there is the guitar. A Fender Telecaster to be exact with some modifications. Coins are glued all around the body and on this night in Phoenix, one fell off and was offered to an unsuspecting audience member, “Hey buddy, spare a buck?”

Hailing from the great state of Texas, where everything is larger including the performances, Watson and the band started the show a bit on the early side, hitting their first song at the 8:05 pm mark. To the unknowing fan, one could assume that they were in for a typical hour or so set, leaving the bar ‘round 9:30 or so and safely in bed by ten. Wow, these country music fans are a bunch of fuddy-duddies right? Not so fast my man, Watson and his gang shut the place down, and for the most part, the audience hung in there with them.

Steeped in country music history as well as more than ten albums of his own, Watson maintains a library of songs at his immediate disposal ensuring each night is a bit different, each show a bit unique, and when the calls from the audience come, he and the band are ready. Throughout the evening, audience members called out their favorite Watson tune and the band obliged. At one point, Watson had to stop and put the requests in order as they flew at him fast and furious; the audience had caught a groove. That's not to say Watson didn't have some idea's of his own as he featured several tracks from his recent Cradle to the Grave and a couple times told the audience he would play their request after he did "this" song.