Watson soon to release ‘The Drowning Man’

The Groove frontman Hugh Watson, a Thibodaux native, is an avid supporter of Louisiana and its culture.

He hopes to bring the culture and heritage to life with the release of his first CD, “The Drowning Man,” in mid-September.

The “swamp rock” CD is being produced by fellow Houma musician Pershing Wells, and although there have been many sleepless nights, Watson is relieved to finally be able to present the finished project.

“I have been putting the CD together for about five years now,” he said. “It’s been an exhausting and rewarding experience at the same time.”

Watson said he spent the majority of his time in the studio, cutting, editing and recording new material.

“We have to go through the bad stuff to get to the good stuff, so it was a long process,” he said. “I was able to do that. I’m getting a lot of compliments and my friends list went from 200 to over 1,000 since I started putting samples on MySpace.”

The CD’s title is Watson’s way of bringing public awareness to land loss in Louisiana.

“I consider myself a drowning man from a drowning land. South Louisiana is losing ground daily,” he writes on his Web site. He’s even posted a coastal erosion map at www.hughwatson.tripod.com/ id1.html

Surprisingly, Watson isn’t a native of Louisiana. He was actually born in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. Since his dad was involved in the oil industry, he is well traveled, having lived in Maryland, New York, New Jersey and North Carolina as well as three other countries besides the U.S.

It wasn’t until the age of six that he came to Louisiana. It’s what Watson calls “home” and he tries to display that by adding a Louisiana flare to his music.

“I refer to it as swamp rock,” he said. “It’s part swamp pop and real heavy on soul.”

For more information on Watson’s CD, check out his Web site, or find him on MySpace.