Gene Watson's Peers within the country music industry believe in the sheer talent of this unassuming man from east Texas, so much so that Gene is regarded by many of them as 'the singer's singer' - and rightly so!

All of Gene Watson's Peers, who were contacted by The Gene Watson Fan Site, during 2006, were most gracious with their time and words.

It is here, within this special part of The Gene Watson Fan Site, that you have an opportunity to read a quote from Sunny Sweeney, which she submitted to this site on Friday 10 November 2006.

Sean Brady would like to take this opportunity to say 'thank you' to Sunny Sweeney who has made a special contribution to a unique part of this online 'celebration of a Lone Star Hero'.



Sunny Sweeney
This quote was submitted on Friday 10 November 2006.

'Gene Watson is a bad ass.  He was one of the first bad asses that I remember.



'Fourteen Carat Mind', which was written by Dallas Frazier and Larry Lee Favorite (Saturday 6 January 1940 - Saturday 26 May 2001) is still probably my number three or four favourite song ever'.

Thank you, Sunny Sweeney, for your support of Gene Watson.

About Sunny Sweeney...



Sunny Sweeney was born Sunny Michaela Sweeney in Houston, Texas on Tuesday 7 December 1976 and was raised in the east Texas town of Longview; from an early age, Sunny Sweeney was encouraged to be a singer.

Sunny Sweeney's stepfather, who was a musician and songwriter himself, taught Sunny to play guitar after she was given an instrument as a present one Christmas.

In September 2004, Sunny Sweeney played her first 'real' gig, fronting her own band, at The Carousel Lounge in Austin, Texas.

In less than a year, Sunny Sweeney was holding down weekly residencies at multiple Austin honky-tonk bars and drawing a crowd at each show which countless other artists in the 'Live Music Capital of the World' would kill for.

Sunny Sweeney's musical influences include Natalie Maines (Dixie Chicks), Kasey Chambers, Merle Haggard (Tuesday 6 April 1937 - Wednesday 6 April 2016) and Loretta Lynn.

Sunny Sweeney also scored a short tour of Europe, highlighted by sharing a bill with Dwight Yoakam at a festival in Norway.

In 2004, Sunny Sweeney began playing guitar and writing songs; she formed her own band and booked their first gig in September 2004, which took place at The Carousel Lounge in Austin, Texas.

In 2006, Sunny Sweeney was voted The Academy of Western Artists' Discovery Award winner as 'The Most Promising New Artist'.



Sunny Sweeney's debut album, 'Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame' (Big Machine Records, 2007), was recorded in Floresville, Texas and was released (independently) on Friday 3 March 2006 and (nationally in the United States) on Tuesday 6 March 2007.

Sunny Sweeney's 'Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame' (Big Machine Records, 2007) was co-produced by Sunny Sweeney with producers Tommy Detamore (guitar, pedal steel, lap steel and dobro) and Tom Lewis (drums).

Sunny Sweeney's debut album, 'Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame' (Big Machine Records, 2007), included three tracks which were released as singles on the Texas Music Chart:

'If I Could' (written by Tim Carroll) / this track was released as a single in 2007, but it did not chart
'Ten Years Pass' (written by Sunny Sweeney and Elizabeth Mason) / this track was released as a single in 2007, but it did not chart
'East Texas Pines' (written by Libbi Bosworth and Gary Griffin) / this track was released as a single in 2007, but it did not chart

Sunny Sweeney's debut album, 'Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame' (Big Machine Records, 2007), also included the following tracks:

'Refresh My Memory' (written by Jim Lauderdale and John Scott Sherrill)
'Next Big Nothing', which was written by Audrey Auld-Mezera (Tuesday 14 January 1964 - Sunday 9 August 2015)
'Lavender Blue' (written by Keith Sykes)
'Here Kinda Lately' (written by Deron Harris)
'Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame' (written by Sunny Sweeney)
'Slow Swinging Western Tunes' (written by Sunny Sweeney)
'Please Be San Antone' (written by Jim Lauderdale and Emily Erwin)
'Mama's Opry' (written by Iris DeMent)
'16th Avenue' (written by Thom Schuyler)



Jim Lauderdale recorded 'Please Be San Antone', which was co-written by Emily Irwin (later known as Emily Robison of Dixie Chicks fame), and included the track on 'Onward Through It All' (BNA Records, 1999).



Lacy J. Dalton recorded '16th Avenue' (written by Thom Schuyler) and included the track on '16th Avenue' (Columbia Records, 1982); the track reached No.7 on the Billboard country music singles chart in 1982.



Iris Dement recorded 'Mama's Opry' (written by Iris Dement) and included the track on her debut album, 'Infamous Angel' (Warner Bros. Records, 1992).

On Friday 2 March 2007, Sunny Sweeney made her debut on the hallowed stage of The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville; it was country music legend Little Jimmy Dickens (Sunday 19 December 1920 - Friday 2 January 2015) who introduced her onstage on that occasion.



On Tuesday 1 May 2007, Rodney Hayden saw the release of 'Down The Road' (Palomino Records, 2007); one of the included tracks was 'These Arms' (written by Rodney Hayden and Bill Whitbeck), which featured guest vocals from Sunny Sweeney.

In 2009, Sunny Sweeney was signed as the first artist to Republic Nashville Records, a newly founded joint venture between Big Machine Records and Universal Republic Records.



On Tuesday 18 January 2011, Sunny Sweeney saw the release, as a digital music download, of 'Sunny Sweeney - EP' (Republic Nashville Records, 2011), which included the following tracks:

'Drink Myself Single' (written by Monty Holmes and Sunny Sweeney)
'Amy' (written by Brennen Leigh and Sunny Sweeney)
'Staying's Worse Than Leaving' (written by Jay Clementi, Radney Foster and Sunny Sweeney)
'Helluva Heart' (written by Deanna Bryant, Heather Little and Sunny Sweeney)
'From a Table Away' (written by Bob DePiero, Karyn Rochelle and Sunny Sweeney)



On Tuesday 23 August 2011, Sunny Sweeney saw the release of 'Concrete' (Republic Nashville Records, 2011), which was produced by Brett Beavers, and included three tracks, which were hit singles on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks Chart:

'From a Table Away' (written by Sunny Sweeney, Bob DiPiero and Karyn Rochelle) (No.10, 2010) / this track was Sunny Sweeney's first single and was released on Monday 28 June 2010 / the track debuted at No.58 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks Chart for the week of Saturday 26 June 2010 / in March 2011, the song reached No.10 / the track also reached No.71 on the Billboard Top 200 pop music singles chart in 2010
'Staying's Worse Than Leaving' (written by Sunny Sweeney, Radney Foster and Jay Clementi) (No.38, 2011)
'Drink Myself Single' (written by Sunny Sweeney and Monty Holmes) (No.36, 2011)

Sunny Sweeney's 'Concrete' (Republic Nashville Records, 2011) also included the following tracks:

'The Old Me' (written by Lori McKenna and Mark D. Sanders)
'Amy' (written by Sunny Sweeney and Brennen Leigh)
'Worn Out Heart' (written by Sunny Sweeney and Brett Beavers)
'Mean as You' (written by Brett James, Tim Nichols and Kelley Lovelace)
'It Wrecks Me' (written by Sunny Sweeney and Jay Clementi)
'Helluva Heart' (written by Sunny Sweeney, Heather Little and Deanna Bryant)
'Fall for Me' (written by Lisa Carver, Jaida Dreyer and Carolyn Dawn Johnson)

Sunny Sweeney's 'Concrete' (Republic Nashville Records, 2011) reached No.7 on the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart in 2011; the album also reached No.21 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart in 2011.

As of the Billboard chart dated Saturday 24 September 2011, Sunny Sweeney's 'Concrete' (Republic Nashville Records, 2011) had sold 26,418 copies in the United States.

On Friday 11 November 2011, Sunny Sweeney wed her longtime boyfriend, Jeff Hellmer, in a Las Vegas wedding ceremony, which included family and close friends.

In 2012, Sunny Sweeney and Big Machine Records parted ways.

In 2013, Sunny Sweeney signed a recording contract with Thirty Tigers Records.  Sunny Sweeney's debut single for the label, 'Bad Girl Phase' (written by Brandy Clark, Jessie Jo Dillon and Shannon Wright), was released in June 2014.

Although Sunny Sweeney's debut single for Thirty Tigers Records, 'Bad Girl Phase' (written by Brandy Clark, Jessie Jo Dillon and Shannon Wright), did not chart on the Billboard Hot Country Songs Chart, it did reach No.1 on the Texas Music Chart for the chart week of Monday 20 October 2014.  In doing so, Sunny Sweeney became the first female artist to top the chart in over ten years.



Through the fan-sponsored PledgeMusic program, Sunny Sweeney issued her third studio album, 'Provoked' (Thirty Tigers Records, 2014), on Tuesday 5 August 2014.  'My Bed' (written by Ashley Monroe, Angaleena Presley and Sunny Sweeney), which was a duet with Will Hoge, was released in early 2015 as the album's second single.

Sunny Sweeney's third studio album, 'Provoked' (Thirty Tigers Records, 2014), was produced by Luke Wooten; Sunny Sweeney co-wrote eleven of the album's thirteen songs, many of which were inspired by her personal life, which included a divorce from her first husband.

Sunny Sweeney's third studio album, 'Provoked' (Thirty Tigers Records, 2014), debuted at No.165 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart and No.20 on the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart upon its release.  The album sold 2,900 copies after two weeks.

Sunny Sweeney's third studio album, 'Provoked' (Thirty Tigers Records, 2014), included the following tracks:

'You Don't Know Your Husband' (written by Angaleena Presley, Mark D. Sanders and Sunny Sweeney)
'Bad Girl Phase' (written by Brandy Clark, Jessie Jo Dillon and Shannon Wright)
'Second Guessing' (written by Natalie Hemby and Sunny Sweeney)
'Carolina on the Line' (written by Lance Miller, Sunny Sweeney, Brad Warren and Brett Warren)
'Find Me' (written by Jay Clementi, Buddy Owens and Sunny Sweeney)
'Can't Let Go' (written by Randy Weeks)
'Front Row Seats' (written by Lance Miller, Sunny Sweeney, Brad Warren and Brett Warren)
'My Bed' (written by Ashley Monroe, Angaleena Presley and Sunny Sweeney) / this track was a duet with Will Hoge
'Uninvited' (written by Natalie Hemby and Sunny Sweeney)
'Sunday Dress' (written by Monty Holmes, Buddy Owens and Sunny Sweeney)
'Used Cars' (written by Natalie Hemby and Sunny Sweeney)
'Backhanded Compliment' (written by Natalie Hemby and Sunny Sweeney)
'Everybody Else Can Kiss My Ass' (written by Brett Beavers, Connie Harrington and Sunny Sweeney)



On Friday 10 March 2017, Sunny Sweeney saw the release of 'Trophy' (Aunt Daddy Records, 2017), which included the following tracks:

'Pass The Pain' (written by Jay Clementi, Monty Holmes and Sunny Sweeney)
'Better Bad Idea' (written by Galen Griffin, Buddy Owens and Sunny Sweeney)
'Nothing Wrong With Texas' (written by Sunny Sweeney and Lori McKenna)
'Pills' (written by Brennen Leigh and Noel McKay)
'Bottle By My Bed' (Lori McKenna and Sunny Sweeney)
'Why People Change' (written by Heather Morgan and Sunny Sweeney)
'I Feel Like Hank Williams Tonight' (written by Chris Wall)
'Grow Old With Me' (written by Lori McKenna and Sunny Sweeney)
'Trophy' (written by Lori McKenna and Sunny Sweeney)
'Unsaid' (written by Caitlyn Smith and Sunny Sweeney)



Sunny Sweeney, wearing a Gene Watson shirt, at The Poodle Dog Lounge, 6507 Burnet Road in Austin, Texas

• Visit Sunny Sweeney's Official Site at sunnysweeney.com