Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson was born in Stoney Fork Township, near Deep Gap, North Carolina, on March 3, 1923 and when he passed away yesterday from complications from colon surgery the 89 year-old master guitarist had influenced generations of acoustic guitar players and folk music fans like.
Many folks of my generation first heard Doc Watson on the groundbreaking 1972 album, Will The Circle Be Unbroken which gathered together some of the early superstars of country, folk and bluegrass music along side the younger Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in a three-record set of essential songs from the pantheon of American Roots Music. Watson's signature performances of "Way Downtown" and "Tennessee Stud" sent pickers to their instruments to try and figure out his tasteful and lightning fast guitar lines.
Losing his sight to an eye infection before his first birthday, Watson was given a banjo by his father who insisted he learn to play an instrument. His father saw music as a way for him to make his way in life. Watson told NPR'S Terry Gross in 1988 what his father said as he put him on his path as a musician, "It might help you get through the world."
He started playing on street corners in North Carolina at a young age with his brother Linny. They loved the music and close harmonies of the Delmore Brothers, The Monroe Brothers, and the Louvin Brothers. Doc would soon be picking up the electric guitar as well to play in the Tennessee-based Jack Williams Swing Band where Watson picked up fiddle tunes on the electric from the influence of the seminal swinging country sounds of Hank Garland and Grady Martin. But by 1960 as the folk music revival took hold Watson switched permanently back to acoustic guitar, banjo and harmonica.
Soon his masterful flat picking style began to turn heads not only in Nashville but in the burgeoning urban folk communities of the mid-60s. His big break came in an acclaimed performance at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival. He toured nationwide on college campuses and in folk clubs of the day and in 1964 recorded his first solo album. By the time of the ...Circle sessions he had released numerous albums and was at the forefront of the bluegrass and folk festival circuits on a level with his occasional collaborators and friends, Earl Scruggs and Bill Monroe.
For the next 40 years Doc Watson would continue to regale audiences world-wide with his homespun stories, open-minded appreciation of contemporary roots music as well as the music that he grew up on and made his own. His clear voice, earthy and neighborly demeanor, consummate flat-picking and fingerstyle guitar and banjo playing made him a consistent draw on the folk music circuit and a huge influence on guitarists and performers for generations. He recorded throughout his career and often would appear on record and stage with the cream of the acoustic music crop such as Chet Atkins, Merle Travis, David Grisman, Tony Rice, Earl Scruggs, Alison Krauss and so many more.
above Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Alison Krauss...
By 1985 when his immensely talented son Merle Watson passed away in a tragic farming accident, the father-son team had been touring touring since 1964 when the younger guitarist joined Doc onstage in front of 12,000 people in the Bay Area and recorded their first album together in November of that year. For the next 21 years they thrilled audiences with their exciting guitar duos, accompanied by long-time bassist T. Michael Coleman. In later years, Doc was often accompanied by David Holt or Jack Lawrence.
above with Jack Lawrence on 2nd guitar.
Doc honored the legacy of his son with MerleFest, one of the events of the festival season beginning in 1988. The festival has become on of the most popular roots music festivals drawing upwards of 70,000 visitors every year. Watson's final appearances at MerleFest occurred the last weekend of April 2012.
After Merle's death Doc decided to call it quits but the night before the funeral his son came to him in a dark and intense dream and told him to carry on.Among the many honors he would subsequently receive were seven Grammy Awards, a National Medal of Arts from President Clinton in 1997 and in 2004, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
When I first experienced Doc and Merle Watson, we had booked them into San Diego State University's Montezuma Hall and they raised the rafters with their exhilarating showmanship. A couple of semesters later we brought them to the much larger outdoor amphitheater on campus in a double bill with the legendary Pete Seeger which resulted in a long and inspired evening of a treasure trove of some of the greatest indigenous music this country has produced.
Having been blessed to have experienced Mr. Watson many times before and after Merle's death, I can tell you personally that the music world has lost one of it's great showmen and musical masters. Here's to you, Doc.
Here are two appreciations of Doc Watson from CNN yesterday.
Guitar Legend Doc Watson Dies
Watson Leaves Notes Strung Through Musical History
Here is a selected Doc Watson discography. The live albums with Merle are highly recommended as is his debut self-titled album from 1964.
