"I'd rather be an old fencepost in Texas than the king of Tennessee," Aaron Watson sings on "Fencepost," echoing the words of one of his favorite fellow Texans, Sam Houston. It's a song about a rising Texas country songwriter who gets the door slammed in his face by big-time Nashville record executives who underestimate him. Instead of giving up on his dreams, though, he rolls up his sleeves, proves them all wrong through sheer determination, and soon finds them knocking on his own door. If it sounds familiar, that's because, as Watson sings, it's "a true story," and the reason he's titled his 12th record 'The Underdog.'

"I've always liked the idea of the underdog," says Watson. "I've always liked the idea that the guy who's not supposed to win could still beat all the odds through hard work and perseverance. A lot of people are always telling us that what we're achieving in the music business is just next to impossible. I don't really consider it that way. We're just out there working hard."

Working hard is a serious understatement for Watson, who performs hundreds of shows every year, has collaborated with special guests like Willie Nelson, Dale Watson, Jack Ingram, and Bill Joe Shaver, cracked the Top 10 on the Billboard 200, and sold hundreds of thousands of tickets, all as a totally independent artist with his own label. The lead single from 'The Underdog, "That Look," which Watson wrote for his wife Kimberly, turned heads by debuting in the Top 10 of the Billboard Country Digital Songs Chart and closing out the year as one of the most successful-selling independent singles of 2014.