Watershed is a tough band to pigeonhole. Depending on the night you see us or the song you listen to, you might hear wildly different descriptions of our sound. Amazon.com says we are similar to The White Stripes, The Strokes, Wilco, Jack Johnson and Norah Jones. (We sure don't sell like those bands) Reviewers through the years have compared us to everybody from REO Speedwagon and Hootie and The Blowfish, to Johnny Thunders and AC/DC. What gives?

Deconstructing Watershed should be a relatively simple task considering we basically only use a couple of chords and like to keep things 4/4. The obvious influences leap out at the listener. Cheap Trick, The Replacements, The Kinks, The Who, and Springsteen get you most of the way there. But not quite. What is the missing link? The Georgia Satellites.

You probably know them as the band that sang "Keep Your Hands to Yourself" over and over until it drove you crazy. I know them as the band that taught me that Rod Stewart used to be cool, and that Chuck Berry is the only guitar player that really matters.

The Satellites only put out 3 CD's, but they are all classics. Their final CD, In The Land Of Salvation and Sin, moved me so much that I started a Satellites tribute band, called The League Bowlers, just to help get the word out. (One could argue that Watershed is already the world's worst Cheap Trick cover band, so that ground is covered)

Following the band's unfair and untimely demise, lead singer and chief songwriter Dan Baird recorded and released his guitar fueled, good time opus, Love Songs For The Hearing Impaired. Fuck, I love that album. Enough background for y'all?

Recently, Dan Baird was in town producing the latest, greatest X-Rated Cowboys CD, Saddest Day of the Year, (buy it, you will love it) with Cowboy guitarist Andy Harrison. I had to pull the old "unannounced drop in" in hopes of meeting one of my rock n roll heroes.

Dan was hard at work in the control room, but having done my homework, I sat in the studio lounge watching the baseball playoffs knowing that eventually he would be out for the score. (Dan is a well known baseball fanatic.)

Sure enough, Dan eventually sat down next to me, and we got to chatting. Just some small talk, but that was good enough for me. (He likes Rick Richards. He dislikes Barry Bonds.) Toward the end of the evening, I asked if he would write down his 10 favorite songs of all time. He disappeared for about 10 minutes and returned with a worn piece of paper.

Dan Baird's Favorite Songs (as of October 2002)
Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay - Otis Redding
Down Payment Blues - AC/DC
Maybellene - Chuck Berry
8 Days a Week - Beatles
Stay With Me - Faces
I Want You Bad - NRBQ
God Only Knows - Beach Boys
Nevermind - The Replacements
Suspicious Minds - Elvis
American Girl - Tom Petty

I own every one of those records. So does Joe. So does Biggie ( he also has a kick ass Satellites collection). If not for the influence of Dan Baird, (and Dash Rip Rock, but more on them later) we might be covering "Please Go All the Way" by the Raspberries instead of "Let it Rock" or "Six Years Gone." Thank God.

My late mother used to tell me, "Show me who your friends are and I will show you who you are" The same can be said for the bands you befriend.

As a bonus to you Satellite freaks out there, I present to you, after much prodding by moi...

Dan's Favorite Songs that he has written
Younger Face
Wake Up Jake
Railroad Steel
Keep Your Hands to Yourself
Sweet Nights of Mystery
Myth of Love
Sheila
All Over but the Crying
I Dunno
Six Years Gone
Days Gone By