88.5 WFDD - Doc Watson: Recent Episodes
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Across the Blue Ridge host Paul Brown (center) with Betse Ellis (l.) and Clarke Wyatt at the 2018 Rocky Mountain Old Time Music Festival in Colorado. Betse and Clarke, a duo with an interesting musical history before they concentrated on roots and old-time music, are our guests this hour.
Paul Brown
This week we hear the stories of Betse Ellis and Clarke Wyatt, who came from the worlds of classical, rock and jazz, and fell totally in love with traditional old-time music. They’re now teaching, playing and touring full time.
ATBR’s Paul Brown caught up with them at the Rocky Mountain Old-Time Music Festival in Colorado and settled in for a brief interview that’s excerpted in this show. You’ll also hear some cuts from Betse & Clarke’s album, River Still Rise, and songs and tunes from people who influenced them early in their discovery of old-time and bluegrass music: Doc Watson, Frank Proffitt, The East Texas Serenaders, and Art Rosenbaum.
This week’s episode starts with a good dose of classic old-time and bluegrass songs and tunes. So get on board and ride with us!
Playlist
- Altamont
Bucking Mules
Smoke Behind The Clouds
Free Dirt 2. Roscoe
Camp Creek Boys
Blue Ridge Style Square Dance Time
Mountain 3. Cumberland Gap
George Landers
High Atmosphere
Rounder 4. Love Me One More Time
James King
Bed By The Window
Rounder 5. With You On My Mind
Molly O'Day & The Cumberland Mountain Folks
Molly O'Day & The Cumberland Mountain Folks
Bear Family 6. Durang's Hornpipe
Roan Mountain Hilltoppers
Down Home
Roan Mountain Hilltoppers 7. One Morning In May
Jean Ritchie
Mountain Hearth & Home
Elektra 8. Break 1 - Angelina Baker
Jesse Milnes
Deep End Sessions
Deep End Sessions 9. Fill My Way With Love
Betse & Clarke
River Still Rise
Betse Ellis & Clarke Wyatt 10. Shelvin Rock
Betse & Clarke
River Still Rise
Betse Ellis & Clarke Wyatt 11. Interview 1 - Betse & Clarke
Betse Elllis & Clarke Wyatt
ATBR recording 12. Acorn Stomp
East Texas Serenaders
East Texas Serenaders
Document 13. Fair & Tender Ladies
Betse & Clarke
River Still Rise
Betse Ellis & Clarke Wyatt 14. Rolling River
Betse & Clarke
River Still Rise
Betse Ellis & Clarke Wyatt 15. Interview 2 - Betse & Clarke
Betse & Clarke
ATBR recording 16. Break 2 - Arkansas Traveler
Betse & Clarke
River Still Rise
Betse Ellis & Clarke Wyatt 17. Mama Don't Allow No Music
Doc Watson
Memories
Sugar Hill 18. Wake Up Little Maggie
Doc Watson
Memories
Sugar Hill 19. Gyps Of David
Frank Proffitt
Traditional Songs & Ballads Of Appalachia
Folk-Legacy 20. Sundown
Art Rosenbaum
Georgia Banjo Blues
Global Village 21. East Texas Drag
East Texas Serenaders
East Texas Serenaders
Document
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atbr #doc watson #frank proffitt #the east texas serenaders #art rosenbaum #betse ellis #clarke wyatt #rocky mountain old-time music festival #river will rise
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The Piney Woods Boys with Margaret Martin (L-R Wayne Martin, Matt Haney, Jim Collier, Margaret Martin) onstage at Muddy Creek Music Hall. Three of the four band members were personally acquainted with the late Doc Watson and his family. Their show explores his impact on all four band members’ lives, and on the music and lives of thousands of people around the world.
Paul Brown
Arthel Lane “Doc” Watson (1923-2012) was a North Carolina mountain musician who made a global impact, playing fully traditional music, rockabilly, blues, jazz and other styles with grace and warmth. Other musicians revered him as a guitarist, banjoist, harmonica player and vocalist. He was equally loved as a human being who brought great focus and deep emotion to his music and his interactions with people around him.
Among the many younger musicians he influenced heavily were the Piney Woods Boys and Margaret Martin, all of whom either knew Watson or started taking music seriously because of him. The group loves to spread the word about what it was like interacting with Doc Watson and his family in the North Carolina mountains in the early 1970s. And in their shows reflecting Watson’s impact on them, they tell stories emblematic of the experiences of thousands of other people.
Hear excerpts from their July, 2017 performance at Muddy Creek Music Hall in Winston-Salem, NC, and discussion of Doc Watson and his significance with ATBR host Paul Brown.
Playlist
- My Rose Of Old Kentucky
Doc Watson
Memories
Sugar Hill 2. How Many Biscuits Can You Eat
Piney Woods Boys & Margaret Martin
ATBR recording 3. Watson Family Medley
Piney Woods Boys & Margaret Martin
ATBR recording 4. Peartree
Doc Watson
Memories
Sugar Hill 5. Break 1 - Peartree
Doc Watson
Memories
Sugar Hill 6. Rude & Rambling Man
Piney Woods Boys & Margaret Martin
ATBR recording 7. My Home Is Across The Blue Ridge Mountains
Piney Woods Boys & Margaret Martin
ATBR recording 8. House Of The Rising Sun
Piney Woods Boys & Margaret Martin
ATBR recording 9. Walking Boss
Clarence Ashley
Original Folkways Recordings of Doc Watson & Clarence Ashley V.2
Smithsonian Folkways 10. Break 2 - Steel Guitar Rag
Doc Watson
Memories
Sugar Hill 11. The Cuckoo
Piney Woods Boys & Margaret Martin
ATBR recording 12. Down The Road
Piney Woods Boys & Margaret Martin
ATBR recording 13. Tom Dula
Piney Woods Boys & Margaret Martin
ATBR recording
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atbr #piney woods boys and margaret martin #doc watson #muddy creek music hall
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Sarah Ogan Gunning was a traditional Kentucky singer – and an activist writer of work songs and union organizer in the coalfields of the Cumberland Plateau. Hear about her, listen to her music, and find out about other women musicians famous and unknown on this week’s Across the Blue Ridge episode.
Ellen Stekert, Folk-Legacy Records
We conclude our two-part Blue Ridge Music Trails feature on women in old-time music with more of Alice Gerrard’s presentation at the Earle Theater in Mount Airy, NC – and more great music. Hear about Cousin Emmy, the irrepressible Kentucky radio performer who brought old-time music to the national stage; Aunt Jenny Wilson, a West Virginia farm woman who never aspired to fame but could play a clawhammer banjo and sing with the best of them; and many more. Alice Gerrard, a pioneer for women in bluegrass music herself, takes us along her life path and its intersections with performers famous and not. We hear about successes and difficulties, women on the road as professional musicians and women whose husbands discouraged them from playing at all. Plus … in the first segment of the show, some powerful classics of old time and bluegrass music from Charlie Poole, Doc Watson, Dan Boner, Hannah Shira Naiman, and others.
Playlist
- Lonesome Road Blues
Mountain Park Old Time Band
Dancing On Rocky Island
Mountain Park Old Time Band 2. Why Don't You Tell Me So
Dan Boner
West Of West Virginia
Dan Boner 3. Train On The Island
Hannah Shira Naiman
Know The Mountain
Merriweather Records 4. The Letter That Never Came
Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers
Old Time Songs
County 5. Sitting On Top Of The World
Doc Watson
Classic Appalachian Blues
Smithsonian Folkways 6. Give Me Just A Little More Time
E.C. Ball
E.C. Ball With Orna Ball
Rounder 7. Precious Jewel
Frank Bode
Been Riding With Old Mosby
Smithsonian Folkways 8. Break 1 - George Booker
Sheila Kay Adams
All The Other Fine Things
Granny Dell 9. I'm Going To Organize
Sarah Ogan Gunning
Girl Of Constant Sorrow
Folk-Legacy 10. Old Jack Frost
Sarah Ogan Gunning
Girl Of Constant Sorrow
Folk-Legacy 11. Honey In The Rock
Wilma Lee Cooper
Classic Country Favorites
Rebel 12. Singing Waterfall
Molly O'Day
Molly O'Day & The Cumberland Mountain Folk
Bear Family 13. Ruby
Cousin Emmy
Cousin Emmy And Her Kinfolks
Bear Family 14. The Soldier And The Lady
Aunt Jenny Wilson
Aunt Jenny Wilson
FRC Field Recorders Collective 15. Break 2 - Arkansas Traveler
Cousin Emmy
Cousin Emmy And Her Kinfolks
Bear Family 16. Leone Parish
The Little Things
The Old Time Way
Heritage 17. The Hard Working Miner
Whitetop Mountain Band
Loafer's Dream
Mountain Roads Recordings 18. Never Let Your Deal Go Down
Etta Baker
One Dime Blues
Rounder 19. Jaybird
Aunt Jenny Wilson
Aunt Jenny Wilson
FRC Field Recorders Collective
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atbr #alice gerrard #cousin emmy #aunt jenny wilson #charlie poole #doc watson #dan boner #hannah shira naiman
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Kyle Creed was an influential banjo picker, luthier, fiddler and record producer in the Blue Ridge. We feature him this week with two of his best fiddle tunes – Roscoe and Alabama Gals, both performed with the Camp Creek Boys, including Bobby Patterson on bluegrass-style banjo.
Paul Brown collection
This week, we feature some classic Blue Ridge old time fiddle tunes and songs, from fiddlers Kyle Creed, Fred Cockerham, Tim Smith, and Tommy Jarrell. That’s just the start. In the center segment of the show, host Paul Brown tells us about an old Virginia song he learned from his mother, and how he’s slowly tracing its lineage. The emergence of the internet is helping, as Paul discovers recordings he was not previously aware of. We’ll hear Paul’s Down to Tampa with Mike Seeger, and old recordings of a related song, Tampa Blues. Finally, Doc Watson and Bill Monroe performed some duo shows over the years, and we hear two great songs … plus earlier music of the Monroe Brothers, Charlie Monroe & His Kentucky Pardners, and Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys. It’s an hour of power this week in old time tunes and songs.
Playlist
- Roscoe
Kyle Creed & The Camp Creek Boys
Square Dance Time Blue Ridge Style 2. Bile 'Em Cabbage Down
Fred Cockerham, Oscar Jenkins, Shag Stanley
Stay All Night & Don't Go Home 3. Stay All Night
Tommy Jarrell & Fred Cockerham
Stay All Night & Don't Go Home 4. Alabama Gals
Kyle Creed & The Camp Creek Boys
Square Dance Time Blue Ridge Style 5. Katy Hill
Tim Smith
Straight from the Heart 6. Blue Moon of Kentucky
Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys
Lonesome & Blue 7. Break 1 - Salt Creek
Matt Bright
A Century of Heritage Guitar Music Vol.1 8. East Virginia Blues
Kathy Kallick
My Mother's Voice 9. Down To Tampa
Mike Seeger & Paul Brown
Way Down in North Carolina 10. Tampa Blues
Skoodle Dum Doo & Sheffield
Lonesome Blues 11. Tampa Blues
James Lowry
Virginia Traditions: Western Piedmont Blues 12. All The Good Times Are Past And Gone
Kathy Kallick
My Mother's Voice 13. Steamboat Bill
Billy C. Hurt
Fiddlin' 14. Break 2 - Stay in the Middle of the Road
Doc Watson
Portrait 15. Banks of the Ohio
Bill Monroe & Doc Watson
Live Recordings 1963-1980: Off the Record Vol. 2 16. What Would You Give In Exchange For Your Soul
Bill Monroe & Doc Watson
Live Recordings 1963-1980: Off the Record Vol. 2 17. Where Is My Sailor Boy
The Monroe Brothers
Just A Song Of Old Kentucky, Vol. 2 18. Campin’ In Canaan’s Land
Charlie Monroe & His Kentucky Pardners
Charlie Monroe His Recordings 1938-1956 19. Cryin' Holy Unto My Lord
Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys
Mule Skinner Blues
Story does not include AP content
atbr #kyle creed #fred cockerham #tim smith #tommy jarrell #doc watson #monroe brothers #charlie monroe & his kentucky pardners #bill monroe & his blue grass boys
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The Delmore Brothers of Alabama, early country music stars, have influenced generations of harmony singers and guitarists. We hear them on this episode of Across the Blue Ridge, plus a Doc Watson interpretation of a Delmore Brothers song.
Paul Brown Collection
The Mountains of Music Homecoming is just around the bend. The movable feast of roots music takes place in communities around southwestern Virginia June 9-17. This week we hear selections from performers at the first Homecoming in 2015. Jack Hinshelwood, director of The Crooked Road Heritage Music Trail, also heads up the Homecoming. He joins us for a conversation about The Crooked Road, traditional music in Virginia, and the importance of the Homecoming to the region’s economy and quality of life. Also on the show, classic old time, bluegrass and country music from The Delmore Brothers, Doc Watson, Mac Traynham, Shay Garriock, and many others.
Playlist
- Barnstormin'
James Reams & The Barnstormers
Barnstormin' 2. You Don't Know My Mind
Jimmy Martin & The Sunny Mountain Boys
You Don't Know My Mind 3. Eliza
Mipso
Old Time Reverie 4. Don't Go Out Tonight My Darling
Shady Mountain Ramblers
All Smiles Tonite 5. Mom And Dad Waltz
Sheets Family Band
A Southern Girl's Reply 6. Old Joe Clark
The Skillet Lickers
Volume 1926-27 7. Take Me Back To Tennessee
Arthur Smith & His Dixieliners
Fiddlin' Arthur Smith & His Dixieliners 8. Break 1
Turkey In The Mountain
Mac Traynham & Shay Garriock
Turkey In The Mountain 9. Pluckin' the Hen
Close Kin
Mountains of Music Homecoming 2015 10. Hinshelwood #1
Jack Hinshelwood
ATBR interview 11. Lonesome Pine
Blue Highway
Mountains of Music Homecoming 2015 12. I'm A Child of the King
James Newsome
Mountains of Music Homecoming 2015 13. Hinshelwood #2
Jack Hinshelwood
ATBR interview 14. The Saucy Sailor
John Roberts
Sea Fever 15. Awake, Awake
Elizabeth LaPrelle
Lizard In The Spring 16. Hinshelwood #3
Jack Hinshelwood
ATBR interview 17. Little Maggie
Wade Ward
Wade Ward 18. Break 2
Maya's Waltz
Zoe & Cloyd
Equinox 19. Brickyard Joe
Megan Lynch Chowning & Adam Hurt
Inside Out 20. Nashville Blues
Delmore Brothers
Brown's Ferry Blues 21. Just Suppose
Jim Eanes & The Shenandoah Valley Boys
Jim Eanes & The Shenandoah Valley Boys 22. Deep River Blues
Doc Watson
Legacy 23. Farewell Blues
Kenny Baker & Bobby Hicks
Darkness On The Delta
atbr #jack hinshelwood #the crooked road heritage music trail #the delmore brothers #doc watson #mac traynham #shay garriock
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Jerry Douglas (l.) and Aly Bain host the Transatlantic Sessions, in the U.S. for the first time this year. One stop will be Merlefest in North Carolina.
Merlefest
A festival that started small at Wilkes Community College in North Carolina has become one of the most enthusiastically supported roots music events in the U.S. Merlefest began in 1988 as an event to support the college and memorialize Eddy Merle Watson, the son of Doc Watson, who had died in a tractor accident on the family farm. As Doc put it at the time, “When Merle and I started out we called our music ‘traditional plus’, meaning the traditional music of the Appalachian region plus whatever other styles we were in the mood to play. Since the beginning, the people of the college and I have agreed that the music of MerleFest is ‘traditional plus’.”
Merlefest is celebrating 30 years, benefitting education at Wilkes Community College and bringing roots musicians from around the world to northwest North Carolina. This week we talk with publicist Devon Leger about the 2017 lineup, including a stop for The Transatlantic Sessions hosted by bluegrass great Jerry Douglas and Shetland Islands fiddler Aly Bain. We hear music from some of the artists on this year’s stages. Also on the show, some solid Virginia bluegrass bands, and a selection of old time music and new recordings.
Playlist
- Burn The Barn
Big Country Bluegrass
Let Them Know I'm From Virginia 2. Let "Em Know I'm From Virginia
Big Country Bluegrass
Let Them Know I'm From Virginia 3. Beulah Land
Adam McPeak & Mountain Thunder
The Last Dirt Road 4. Rock Bottom
Lonesome River Band
Bridging The Tradition 5. The Wandering Boy
The Carter Family
Anchored In Love 6. The Homestead On The Farm
Flatt & Scruggs
Songs Of The Famous Carter Family 7. Alexander's Run
Blue Highway
Original Traditional 8. Down The Road
Doc & Merle Watson
Home Sweet Home 9. Devon Leger interview
ATBR interview 10. Chicken Fried
Zac Brown Band
The Foundation 11. O'Farrell's Farewell To Limerick
Aly Bain & Donal Lunny
Transatlantic Sessions Season 4 12. The Glad Eye-The Journeyman-The Wayward Son
John Doyle
Wayward Son 13. Righten That Wrong
Locust Honey String Band
Never Let Me Cross Your Mind 14. When The Whiskey's Gone
Locust Honey String Band
Never Let Me Cross Your Mind 15. Never Been Alive
Avett Brothers
Magpie And The Dandelion 16. Break 2 - Stony Fork
New North Carolina Ramblers
Four And A Half 17. Climbing The Golden Stairs
Bucking Mules
Smoke Behind The Clouds 18. The Soldier And The Lady
Bucking Mules
Smoke Behind The Clouds 19. Lightnin' Wells
Waiting For The Evening Mail
O Lightnin', Where Art Thou?
Trouble Light
Amanda Lynn Stubley
Gem 20. I've Got A Mule To Ride
Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys
Great High Mountain
atbr #merlefest #wilkes community college #eddy merle watson #doc watson #devon leger #jerry douglas #aly bain
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Piedmont bluesman John Jackson is but one of the many songsters and instrumentalists we hear on this week’s Across the Blue Ridge. Jackson’s subtle yet powerful blues style and engaging personality endeared him to blues fans worldwide.
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
This week we hear from a varied group of piedmont and mountain south artists for a joyful, invigorating hour of listening. Bluesman John Jackson provides a serene rag he composed. Our music also includes songs from Carol Elizabeth Jones, Doc Watson, Obray Ramsey and many more well known and lesser known performers. Along the way we’ll hear fascinating fiddle tunes from Benton Flippen and John Ashby; and come to understand the importance of piano in Blue Ridge music, with the stories and tunes of Jeff Little and Haywood Blevins. Plus … eleven-year-old guitar sensation Presley Barker from North Carolina puts in an appearance with his rendition of “Nothing Doing” – a bit of a misnomer considering how much work this youngster has put into the guitar to play at a level far beyond his years.
Episode 25 Playlist
- Maple On The Hill – Carl Jones & Erynn Marshall
Sweet Memories Never Leave
Dittyville 2015 2. Little Log Cabin By The Sea – The Carter Family
The Bristol Sessions Disc 1
CMF 1927 3. Greasy String – The West Virginia Coon Hunters
The Bristol Sessions Disc 1
CMF 1927 4. From Jerusalem to Jericho – Uncle Dave Macon
Travelin’ Down That Road
County Records 1995 5. If You’ve Got The Money Honey – Del McCoury
High Lonesome & Blue
Rounder Records 1996 6. John’s Ragtime – John Jackson
Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down
Arhoolie 1992 7. BREAK 1
Davenport – Dock Boggs
Dock Boggs His Folkways Years Vol. 2
Smithsonian Folkways 1998 8. Nothing To It – Presley Barker
Presley Barker
Independent Release 2015 9. Deep River Blues – Doc Watson
Legacy
High Windy 2002 10. Boy She’s A Daisy – Double Decker String Band
The Rest Is Yet To Come
Independent Release 2006 11. Goin’ Round This World – Lee Sexton
Whoa Mule
June Appal 2006 12. Cataloochee – Carol Elizabeth Jones
Cataloochee
5-String Productions 2008 13. Mississippi Sawyer – Benton Flippen
Beware of Dog
Independent Release 2006 14. BREAK 2
Blowin’ The Blues – Chuck Darling
Harmonica Blues
Yazoo 1991 15. Goin’ To The Free State – John Ashby
John Ashby
Field Recorders Collective FRC 2007 16. Little Maggie – Obray Ramsey
Good Old Mountain Dew
Washington Records 1963 17. Ground Speed – Jeff Little Trio
Made In The Blue Ridge
Independent Release 2014 18. Fisher’s Hornpipe – Haywood Blevins
Haywood Blevins
Field Recorders Collective FRC 2007 19. Fisher’s Hornpipe – Paul Brown & John Schwab
Field Recording 20. Brandywine – Megan Lynch Chowning & Adam Hurt
Inside Out
Fiddlestar 2016
john jackson #carol elizabeth jones #doc watson #obray ramsey #benton flippen #john ashby #presley barker #atbr
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Doc Watson with his son, Eddy Merle Watson.
MerleFest is an annual "traditional plus" music festival held in Wilkesboro, North Carolina on the campus of Wilkes Community College. It was founded in 1988 by legendary flat-picking and finger-style guitarist Doc Watson and his wife, traditional musician and songwriter Rosa Lee. It began in memory of their son, American guitarist and folk singer, Eddy Merle Watson.
Check out this primer, filmed during the 2015 MerleFest:
merlefest #doc watson #merle watson #appalachian #music
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Doc Watson (L) and David Holt (R) performing at MerleFest. PHOTO COURTESY MERLEFEST
MerleFest was founded in 1988 by legendary flat-picking and finger-style guitarist Doc Watson and his wife, traditional musician and songwriter Rosa Lee. It began in memory of their son, American guitarist and folk singer, Eddy Merle Watson.
(For more on MerleFest, watch WFDD's original video: MerleFest in 5 Minutes)
Merle began touring and recording with his father when he was 15 years old, and quickly established himself as one of the best flat-picking and slide guitarists of his generation, before his tragic death in 1985 from a tractor accident at the age of 36.
Doc Watson performing. Photo courtesy of MerleFest.
Doc Watson died in May of 2012, and Rosa Lee passed away six months later, but the festival they started has continued to grow. From its humble beginnings as a fundraising concert performed for a few thousand people on the makeshift stage of a flatbed pickup truck, MerleFest is today one of the largest music festivals in the country.
MerleFest features “traditional plus” music, described by Doc as “the traditional music of the Appalachian region plus whatever other styles we were in the mood to play."
Each year the artists selected to perform during the festival reflect that variety of styles including Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, The Avett Brothers, Ricky Skaggs, The Waybacks, Gillian Welch and Nickel Creek.
Over the years, the family-friendly, alcohol-free event has become an annual homecoming for both music fans and the artists who perform there. Two of the musicians who return every year to MerleFest and who knew the Watsons well spoke with WFDD’s David Ford about Doc, Merle, and the festival that bears his name.
T. Michael Coleman
Grammy-winning bassist T. Michael Coleman played bass with Doc and his son Merle throughout the 1970s and 80s. His association with the Watsons began while he was a student at Appalachian State University. As part of his work-study to pay for school, Coleman ran the soundboard at local coffee houses.
T. Michael Coleman (L) playing with Doc Watson (R). Photo courtesy of MerleFest.
“I remember running sound for Doc and Merle the first time, and I was really nervous. I didn’t want to make any mistakes,” says Coleman. “But I must have done well because about six months later they were playing the coffee house again, and someone came to my dorm room and said ‘Merle said to go get that hippie boy, and tell him to come work sound for them.'"
Two years later, T. Michael Coleman and his band (“sort of a Mumford and Sons/Avett Brothers a long time ago!”) began opening for Doc and Merle. He says that because he and Merle were close in age, they began hanging out during and after gigs. Not long after Coleman’s band disbanded, he recalls being approached by Merle.
“I was in the hardware store between the six and eight-penny nails and I heard this voice, ‘Michael, you wanna come play with me and daddy?’ and I said ‘Um, yeah’. So he said ‘Come down to the house, and we’ll see what it feels like’. So, of course, I was a half hour early, roaming the back roads by Doc’s house, and when I finally decided to go in, I made the mistake that no Southern boy should do which is knock on the front door! Because behind the front door there’s usually a spinning wheel, some quilt, and so I knocked on the door and heard all this shuffling and Rosa Lee said ‘Son, you shoulda come in the back door!’ So I thought, ‘Good, I started this off on the right note.' So I go in, and I think we played 'T for Texas,' the Jimmie Rodgers tune, and after the song, Doc said ‘Merle, he’ll do', and that’s the last time we practiced in fifteen years.”
Coleman says that, even though he was confident in his ability to play, he was initially extremely nervous for the in-house audition, and fully aware that it was his “luck meets skill meets opportunity moment." He was worried about how he would be received in this part of the mountains, especially with his long hair.
Eddy Merle Watson on banjo. Photo courtesy of MerleFest.
Thankfully for Coleman, the Watson family was “very open to everything and very educated," and he soon felt comfortable.
"Doc was a very engaging person who made you feel at ease. I mean, the way I felt when I sat in the living room to play that song is the way he tried to make the audience feel when he would play for them: you’re just sitting in his house, and he was in concert with the audience. There wasn’t a lot of self—the pronoun ‘me, me, me’ was not Doc. Doc was, no matter who it was, a big music star or just some audience member who came up to say ‘hello,' he treated no one differently. And that would come across because he felt that he was given a gift that he wanted to share, and this gift should not be abused by ego."
David Holt
David Holt is a four-time Grammy Award winner, storyteller, and radio and television host who has collected and performed the songs and stories of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Holt toured and performed with Doc Watson from 1998 to 2012, and he calls the experience “a highlight of my career."
Grammy Award-winning musician, storyteller, and radio/television host David Holt. Photo courtesy of MerleFest.
"Doc was this pivotal person who was able to take this old music and present it to a modern audience so that they could understand it, and enjoy it—take some of the scratchiness out of it maybe, some of the rawness out of it," says Holt.
"Not only did he do that with the songs, but he pretty much single-handedly created the flat-picking style."
Holt says Watson influenced pretty much anyone who picked up a guitar. He was that influential.
"You know he was just a very intelligent, brilliant guy who was the most musical person I ever met. He just had this sense of what to leave out and what to put in and when to put it in. I still listen to his stuff a lot, and I’m always amazed at how tasteful it is. I always try to emulate that myself and it’s not easy, but he had it. He could do it."
Holt says he remembers fondly his first performance at the launch of MerleFest in 1988.
"Doc and I were playing 'Train on the Island' and the stage is like an old truck bed! And so it was small and intimate and we were thinking very much about Merle because he had just passed shortly before that, so it really was a tribute about Merle. And a lot of the same people still coming came to that one, um, Sam Bush, and of course T. Michael Coleman, just a lot of people who loved Doc. I mean, you know, Doc asked us to come and we weren’t paid those first few years and we just said ‘Yep, we’ll be there,' and that’s what happened. It’s just built up from there."
MerleFest 2016 is held on the campus of Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. It begins April 28-May 1 featuring 115 bands on 13 stages.
Check out WFDD's video "MerleFest in 5 Minutes" which showcases last year's event below:
t. michael coleman #david holt #merlefest #doc watson #blue ridge mountains #appalachian state university #merle watson
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Richard Watson
Jim Gavenus
A member of one of North Carolina’s first families of traditional music has died. Richard Eddy Watson died Monday.
Watson was the third generation of folk guitarists in his family. He played with his grandfather, Doc Watson, on the Grammy-nominated recording “Third Generation Blues.”
But if he knew music, he also knew tragedy. His father, Merle, died in a tractor accident on the family farm when Richard was just 19. The annual MerleFest music festival is named in honor of Merle Watson.
Festival director Ted Hagaman released a statement on Richard Watson’s death, calling him a fixture of Merlefest who has helped carry on the Watson legacy. Hagaman says Watson was a talented musician who will be missed.
Richard Watson was 48. A cause of death has not been released.
richard watson #doc watson #merlefest #bluegrass #folk music
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