Gene Watson

Gene Watson emerged in the mid-'70s as the heir to the kind of straight-ahead hard Texas country pioneered in the '50s and '60s by George Jones and Ray Price. Like such peers as Moe Bandy and Joe Stampley, Watson updated the old-fashioned sound with lyrical and musical tweaks, so his hits conformed to the country airwaves of the '70s while still sounding of piece with the tried-and-true Texas tradition. Watson's first big hit arrived in 1975 when "Love in the Hot Afternoon" reached number three on Billboard's Country charts. For the next decade, he was a fixture in the Top 10,...