James Aaron Watson (born August 20, 1977) is an American country music singer and songwriter. Active since 1999, Watson has recorded several independent albums in his career. His 2015 album '' The Underdog'' reached No. 1 on Top Country Albums that year, and in 2017, Watson had his first major radio airplay hit with "

Outta Style "Outta Style" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Aaron Watson. It was released on November 14, 2016, as the lead-off single from his album ''Vaquero''. It became Watson's first Top 40 hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot Countr ...

", which reached top 10 on

Country Airplay Country Airplay is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States since January 20, 1990. This chart lists the 60 most-listened-to records played on 150 mainstream country radio stations across the country as monitored ...

Biography

Watson was born in Amarillo, Texas, and graduated from

Randall High School Randall High School is a public high school located in the city limits of Amarillo, Texas ( US). It is part of the Canyon Independent School District located in north central Randall County and classified as a 5A school by the UIL. In 2015, the ...

. He then attended Lubbock Christian University and

Abilene Christian University Abilene Christian University (ACU) is a Private university, private Churches of Christ, Christian university in Abilene, Texas. It was founded in 1906 as ''Childers Classical Institute''. ACU is one of the largest private universities in the Sout ...

, where he began learning guitar, after playing junior college baseball in New Mexico. Watson's earliest musical influences were the classic country records by George Jones, Merle Haggard, and Willie Nelson his parents listened to, and the gospel hymns he sang with his family in church.

Musical career

He released his first album, ''Aaron Watson – Singers and Songwriters'' in 1999 and followed that up with ''Texas Cafe'' in 2000. It was not until this third album, ''Shut Up And Dance'', in 2002, that Watson gained radio airplay and attention nationwide. Following that record's success, he released ''The Honky Tonk Kid'', produced by

Ray Benson Ray Benson (born Ray Benson Seifert, March 16, 1951 - October 31st 2022) i Western swing Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the Western United States, West and Southern United St ...

and featuring Willie Nelson on guest vocals. He worked various gigs around Texas before releasing his second album, ''A Texas Cafe''. The follow-up, ''Shut Up And Dance'', was a regional sales success. His 2004 album, ''The Honky Tonk Kid'', was produced by

and features an appearance by Willie Nelson. Watson's band is called the Orphans of the Brazos; they appear on his 2005 album, ''Live at the Texas Hall of Fame''. In 2006, his ''San Angelo'' release hit No. 60 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' country charts and No. 50 on its Heatseekers chart. On March 20, 2007, Watson released his seventh studio album, a collection of gospel songs entitled ''Barbed Wire Halo'', which includes readings by Billy Joe Shaver. On April 1, 2008, Watson's eighth album, ''Angels & Outlaws'', reached No. 4 on the US ''

'' Heatseekers chart, No. 28 on its Country Albums chart, and landed in the ''Billboard'' 200. The album's debut single, "Hearts Are Breaking Across Texas", reached the No. 1 spot on the Texas Music Chart. "Love Makin' Song" was released later that year, and "Rollercoaster Ride" followed in 2009. On September 15, 2009, Watson released ''Aaron Watson LIVE: Deep in the Heart of Texas'', a dual disc CD/DVD set recorded live at the Hog Creek Ice House in Waco, Texas on June 27, 2009. On July 7, 2009, Watson performed at the 81st Texas FFA Convention in Dallas, Texas. Watson's 10th studio album, ''The Road & The Rodeo'', was released in October 2010. This was his first record released under the independent record label, Big Label Records. The album peaked at No. 25 on the US ''Billboard'' Country Albums chart and reached No. 4 on the US ''Billboard'' Heatseeksers chart. October 9, 2012, Aaron Watson released ''Real Good Time''. It achieved national attention, and was the best performing album for Watson to date, peaking at No. 9 on the US ''Billboard'' Country Albums. It was also his first to break into the top twenty for independent albums. It had sold 32,000 copies as of February 2015. In 2014, Aaron Watson released "That Look," which served as the lead-off single from his album '' The Underdog'', which was released on February 17, 2015. The single debuted in the top 10 of the ''Billboard'' Country Digital Songs chart and went on to become one of the most successful-selling independent singles by the end of December 2014. ''The Underdog'' made him the first independent male artist to debut at Number One on the ''

'' Top Country Albums chart with a self-released and independently-distributed and promoted album. The record sold more than 26,000 units in the first week. Watson's eleventh studio album ''

Vaquero The ''vaquero'' (; pt, vaqueiro, , ) is a horse-mounted livestock herder of a tradition that has its roots in the Iberian Peninsula and extensively developed in Mexico from a methodology brought to Latin America from Spain. The vaquero became t ...

'' was released on February 24, 2017. Its lead single, "

," was his first top 10 hit on the ''Billboard''

chart. That single went on to win a BMI Awards for most radio airplay in 2017 and a BMI Millionaire Award. "Run Wild Horses" was released as the album's second single and was a minor top 40 hit on the Country Airplay chart. In 2018, he released his first live record in ten years ''Live at the World's Biggest Rodeo Show'' on August 24, 2018 followed later that year by his first Christmas project, ''An Aaron Watson Family Christmas'', which was released on October 5, 2018 and featured his wife and kids. In 2019, Watson made a further play for national commercial success. On June 21, 2019 he independently released “Red Bandana”, a 20-song album which received mixed reviews from his fans. Its lead-off single, "Kiss That Girl Goodbye," was released on February 4, 2019. "Country Radio" followed as the second single in September 2019.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Music videos

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Aaron American country singer-songwriters Singer-songwriters from Texas Musicians from Amarillo, Texas Abilene Christian University alumni Living people Country musicians from Texas 1977 births 21st-century American singer-songwriters Thirty Tigers artists