R.I.P. Doc Watson
(a look beyond the appalachian fiddle tune)
June 3rd, 2012 — 01:01 pm
When Arthel “Doc” Watson passed on to the great jam session in the sky this past week, the ensuing nationwide recognition for the man and his impact on our culture was inevitable. Watson is and was rightly cited for his ethnomusical bent, most particularly for how the masterful fingerpicker transformed the fiddle tunes which he heard in his native appalachia for guitar and banjo, bringing traditional songs out of the mountains and hollers into the mainstream of popular music via the folk revival of the fifties and sixties, and creating a trademark picking style out of the transformation, in a time when bluegrass, folk, blues and country were at a crossroads.
The combination of timing, talent, and treatment became the perfect platform for fame and fortune, winning him multiple Grammy awards in both the folk and country categories. And many of the classic tunes he helped spread and salvage run strong in the tradfolk revival today; there is no questioning his legacy.
But though it is his prowess with the songs of Deep Gap, North Carolina which most impacted the folkways, Doc’s true impact on the culture goes far beyond the direct line between the appalachian hills and the folk movement which NPR and others so respectfully recognized in the last several days.
A child prodigy who learned from radio as much as he did from his elders, and who spent much of the fifties playing in a country and western swing band, Doc was a prolific performer and studio musician, and his ear for the popular was equal to his ear for the local.
As such, although it is predominantly for his traditional resurrections which we hear of him today, in his many years of recording and performing, Doc focused no small amount of attention on the swinging Nashville sound, using it to channel the hits and a small handful of originals. After a lifetime achievement of over fifty albums recorded live and in the studio, in collaboration and at the helm, his vast catalog came to include a number of hits from the country charts, plus standards from Elvis to the Everly Brothers, from Broadway to Tin Pan Alley, from The Mississippi Sheiks to Mississippi John Hurt.
We covered the traditional songs of Doc Watson way back in 2008 in a Vacation Coverfolk post, when a trip to North Carolina brought us to steep in the sounds of his particular south; those that might be interested in the deeper particulars of his story and style are invited to click back in time to read more. Today, we pay tribute to the man with a second set of song, which features Doc, friends, and family taking on the tunes of his own century. Listen, especially, for the two lullabies, recorded just after the untimely death of his son and life musical partner Merle, which mark a poignant turning point in our set below.
- Doc Watson: Sitting On Top Of The World (orig. The Mississippi Sheiks) [1961]
- Doc Watson: Nashville Blues (orig. The Delmore Brothers) [1964]
- Doc Watson Family: A Tiny Broken Heart (orig. Louvin Brothers) [1964]
- Doc Watson: My Rough and Rowdy Ways (orig. Jimmie Rogers) [1967]
- Doc Watson: Peach Pickin’ Time In Georgia (orig. Jimmie Rodgers) [1968]
- Doc & Merle Watson: Snowbird (orig. Gene MacLellan) [1972]
- Doc & Merle Watson: The Last Thing On My Mind (orig. Tom Paxton) [1972]
- Doc & Merle Watson: If I Needed You (orig. Townes Van Zandt) [1973]
- Doc Watson Family: Anniversary Blue Yodel (orig. Jimmie Rodgers) [1973]
- Doc & Merle Watson: All I Have To Do Is Dream (orig. The Everly Brothers) [1979]
- Doc & Merle Watson: Got The Blues (Can’t Be Satisfied) (orig. Mississippi John Hurt) [1979]
- Doc & Merle Watson: Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright (orig. Bob Dylan) [1981]
- Doc & Merle Watson: St. Louis Blues (orig. W.C. Handy) [1985]
- Doc & Merle Watson: Stormy Weather (orig. Ethel Waters) [1985]
- Doc Watson: Prairie Lullaby (orig. Billy Hill) [1994]
- Doc Watson: My Little Buckaroo (orig. Dick Foran) [1994]
- Doc Watson: Heartbreak Hotel (orig. Elvis Presley) [1995]
- Doc Watson: Walking After Midnight (orig. Patsy Cline) [1995]
- Doc Watson & David Grisman: Summertime (orig. Abbie Mitchell) [1997]
- Del McCoury, Doc Watson, And Mac Wiseman: Live And Let Live (orig. Wiley Walker & Gene Sullivan) [1998]
- Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, Ricky Scaggs: The Storms Are On The Ocean (orig. The Carter Family) [2003]
- Doc Watson: Tennessee Stud (orig. Jimmie Driftwood) [2003]