Aaron Watson Loves To See Young Artists Shoot Straight To The Top, But Wishes It Wasn’t All About Algorithms

Aaron Watson has no problem with younger artists skipping steps to get to the top, but he wishes the process was more talent driven than numbers driven.

The Texas country legend stopped by the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast to talk about coming up in the Texas music scene and how that shaped his perspective of country music and the Nashville machine, dealing with record executives, being self-sufficient and taking a unique approach to his career, current country music beefs, how he started his tailgate talks on social media and the success that the videos have had online, playing the American Rodeo alongside Post Malone and what that experience was like and so much more.

Watson has been a part of the country music industry for over 20 years. He’s a proud, independent artist that has worked diligently to get to where he is with his career today. So you’d think that he’d be upset that young talent in country music like Ty Myers and Hudson Westbrook practically blew up overnight. But that’s the exact opposite of how Watson feels, as he explained:

“I’ve been asked, ‘What are your thoughts on artists going straight to the top?’ And I’m like, ‘I think that’s cool.’ Ty Myers opened some shows for me a year ago and when my booking agent said, ‘What do you think?’

I said, ‘Well, you need to get this kid in venues that are not 21 and up. They’re gonna eat him up. They’re gonna love him.’ People are like, ‘Well do you think it’s fair that these young artists (skip so many steps)?’ I’m like, ‘What’s the word fair?'”

Watson doesn’t have a problem with social media helping to lift younger artists. What he does have a problem with? Record labels being so dependent on the numbers and analytics that come with social media and streaming. The “July In Cheyenne” singer is sick and tired of contracts that require a certain amount of streams (he actually called them toilet paper), and feels as though the artful method of discovering new talent has been lost:

“These kids are expected to have 50 million streams before a label will invest in them? Well that’s the equivalent of a small, mom and pop coffee shop… there’s a successful little shop and they want to franchise. So they go to an investor and they say, ‘Hey, we think we have something.’

That’s the equivalent of the investor saying, ‘Well, franchise your store, make it blow up, and after you are the most popular coffee shop, come to us and then we’ll invest in you.’ Once upon a time, people invested in young artists because they saw the ability (and potential).”

And Aaron Watson prides himself as a bit of a talent spotter. He’s helped the likes of Ty Myers and Hudson Westbrook launch into the stratosphere recently, and the Texas singer even recalls some of his first run ins with Cody Johnson and Randall King, and knowing in his heart (not according to his algorithm) that both would go on to have great success:

“I’m really good at spotting young talent. I took Cody Johnson out on a lot of shows back in the day, and I remember telling everyone that boy’s gonna do some big things. Same thing with Randall King. I play shows with some younger guys and I’m like, ‘Oh man, these guys are gonna do some really big things.'”

@whiskeyriff “I took Cody Johnson out on a lot of shows back in the day.” @Aaron Watson // The latest Whiskey Riff Raff episode is available now on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. #whiskeyriff #whiskeyriffraff #aaronwatson ♬ original sound – Whiskey Riff

Maybe Aaron Watson should be the one running the record label? Just goes to show that finding the needle in the haystack is sometimes more about intuition than algorithms.

You can hear more from Aaron Watson by downloading the podcast on Apple Podcasts by searching “Whiskey Riff Raff” or click here.

We’re also available on Spotify and wherever else you can listen to podcasts.

Cheers, y’all.

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