Gene Watson - Classic Country Legend - Live at Cactus Theater!

Gene Watson - Classic Country Legend - Live at Cactus Theater!

Saturday, January 10, 2026
Doors: 6:50 pm Show: 7:30 pm

If you ask any number of country singers who their favorite singer is, a large number of them will respond: Gene Watson. His music peers even named him “The Singer’s Singer” for his octave jumping range and smooth tone. Gene Watson has 34 studio albums, scored over 72 charted songs, including 23 Top Tens and six #1 hits over his 60-year career. Watson’s first single, the self- penned, “If It’s That Easy” was released on Sun Valley Records in 1962.

It is safe to say that most knowledgeable country fans would point to Gene Watson as one of country music’s best ballad singers - in the same league as country icons George Jones, Merle Haggard, Ray Price and others who are the standard bearers for honest, traditional country music. It’s no surprise to anyone but Gene that the Grand Ole Opry asked him to be a member and inducted him into that iconic group in March of 2020, just before the world shut down for the pandemic.

It’s also no surprise that such artists as Vince Gill, Lee Ann Womack, Trace Adkins, Connie Smith, Joe Nichols, Alison Krauss and many others are not only happy, but eager, to record with Gene. It’s a stunning truth that at 82 years of age, Gene still sings with his clear, pure tone intact, an unmatched soulful delivery and in the same key as 35 years ago. And that is good news for fans of real country music rooted in the timeless values of one of America’s bedrock musical genres.

Born in Palestine, Texas in 1943, Gene Watson was singing in holiness churches with his family at an early age. His father played blues harmonica and guitar alongside African-American field laborers. Watson grew up loving both bluesman Jimmy Reed and honky-tonk king Lefty Frizzell. His earliest public country performance came when he was just 12 years old.

Watson worked from the time he was six, working in the fields, to age 12, when he’d jump off the school bus to work at the local salvage yard. He dropped out of high school to work fulltime. In his late teens, he supported his family by doing auto body repair, so by day he worked on cars, and at night he sang in clubs. “But doing music professionally was never a goal of mine,” he confesses. I always wanted to work on cars. I always say I never did go looking for music. Music found me. Before I ever made a record, The Wilburn Brothers heard me sing down in Houston at a nightclub one night. They said they’d like for me to go with them and do a couple of shows. So I came up to Nashville and traveled to North Carolina with them. They got me on the Grand Ole Opry, and I got a standing ovation and an encore singing the Hank Williams song ‘I Can’t Help It If I’m Still In Love With You’ and ‘It Is No Secret What God Can Do.’ After that, they carried me down to the Ernest Tubb Record Shop and I got on stage and broadcast on The Midnight Jamboree. That was my first experience with the big time; I was 21.”

In the mid ’70s, while on Capitol Records, he enjoyed success with a string of national hits, “Love In The Hot Afternoon,” “Where Love Begins,” “Paper Rosie,” “Farewell Party,” “Should I Come Home (Or Should I Go Crazy),” and “Nothing Sure Looked Good On You.”

Shortly after moving to MCA, Watson recorded “Fourteen Carat Mind” which hit #1 in 1982. A parade of Top Ten hits followed during the early ’80s, including “Speak Softly (You’re Talking To My Heart)” and “You’re Out Doing What I’m Here Doing Without,” “Sometimes I Get Lucky,” “Drinkin’ My Way Back Home,” “Forever Again” and “Little By Little.”

In 1985, Gene moved to Epic Records and returned to the Top 5 with the western swing-influenced Memories to Burn, which was also the title of his first album on the label. Subsequent albums with Epic included Starting New Memories in 1986 and Honky Tonk Crazy in 1987. The following year, Gene Watson made his Warner Bros. debut with Back In The Fire which was followed by At Last.

In recent years, Gene Watson released three albums on his own label, My Heroes Have Always Been Country, Real.Country.Music. and a Gospel album, My Gospel Roots which garnered 4 consecutive #1 hits. He also recorded a duet album in 2011 with the “Queen of Bluegrass,” Rhonda Vincent for Rhonda’s label. The album titled “My Money And Your Good Looks,” pleased both the Country music fans and Bluegrass fans. Released in 2022, his latest album of country music is entitled “Outside The Box.”

Tickets:

Floor, first 4 rows (A-D).............$47.50

Remaining floor (rows E-M)......$42.50

Standard balcony.....................$37.50

Limited balcony box..................$85 (box ticket includes concessions)

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