Neal McCoy’s bus fire

owned the recordings, meaning Watson’s classics are owned by four different corporations. In recent years, Watson has completed a meticulous re-recording of 25 of his greatest hits for his own label, Fourteen Carat Music, giving him a kind of proprietorship over them he never had with the previous recording labels.

“I wanted these to sound as close to the originals as possible,” Watson said of tracks on “The Best of the Best. “I had to work so hard to capture them the same way I did them originally. I just thank the good Lord above that He’s let me keep my voice intact.”

Watson admits he has a lot to be thankful for in addition to his clear and enduring voice. He quit drinking alcohol in 1980, and 10 years later gave up cigarettes. He’s a colon cancer survivor since 2001 and was a 2002 inductee into the Texas Music Hall of Fame.

“I owe a debt of gratitude to Larry’s Country Diner and Country Family Reunion,” Watson said, adding that these programs are providing a venue for classic country music singers to connect with their fans and with one another. “So many of us never got to meet each other until we came on these shows because we were so busy. Being able to get together and talk is one of the reasons this is so much fun.”

Watson’s respect for country music is reflected in an ambitious 2014 project by his own Fourteen Carat Music label, “My Heroes Have Always Been Country,” that pays homage to his musical influence in which he covers enduring songs by Buck Owens, Willie Nelson, George Jones, Johnny Cash and many others. On his 2016 album called “Real.Country.Music” he recorded some of his songs that are no longer available elsewhere as well as lesser-known tunes by some of country’s classic songwriters like Kris Kristofferson, Larry Gatlin, Bill Anderson, Keith Whitley, Dean Dillon, Hank Cochran and Dave Kirby, pointing out that he has a hard time wrapping his mind around a song that’s “simply about riding a tractor or just drinking beer with friends.”

Watson said that no matter what songs he performs at his shows, his audience expects him to sing his own classic, “Farewell Party.” Though the song is about unrequited romantic love, one line pinpoints how Watson feels about the dedicated fans who have enabled him to spend his life doing what he loves.

“At the end of my farewell party…I’ll go away loving you.”

Neal McCoy loses tour bus in fire on interstate

Neal McCoy was traveling through Louisiana early Saturday morning, February 8, when his tour bus erupted in flames. McCoy went live on Facebook shortly after the fire started to share the news with his fans. Thankfully, the “No Doubt About It” singer and his crew were safe.

“Our bus is burning to the ground,” McCoy said as he broadcast from the side of the highway near Mansfield, Louisiana. “This is our lifeline that is going down the drain.” When McCoy first went live, fire crews had yet to arrive on the scene and the bus is seen engulfed in flames as it sat on the side o the road. At one point an explosion can be heard.

Fire crews and emergency personnel responded and battled the blaze. After the fire was somewhat contained, Neal approached the bus and gave viewers a closer look at the fire damage. While the bus was a total loss, the fire was somewhat under control before it reached the trailer that held all of the singer’s equip

ment.

McCoy said he’s had the bus for at least 12 years and has been the backdrop for many of his daily recitations of the “Pledge of Allegiance.” For more than four years, roughly 1400 consecutive days, Neal has started the day by reciting the pledge. After Saturday morning’s bus fire, Neal asked the firefighters, first responders, police officers and volunteers who helped fight the fire to join him for the pledge.

Neal McCoy was en route to a concert scheduled for Saturday night in Alexandria, Louisiana. The show went on as scheduled.