Dec 14

Doc Watson

DOC WATSON
 
 
Doc Watson  (born Arthel Lane Watson; March 3, 1923 – May 29, 2012) was a blind American guitarist, songwriter, and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues, and gospel music.  Watson won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.  Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded.  He performed with his son, guitarist Merle Watson, for over 15 years until Merle's death in 1985 in an accident on the family farm.   (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
Adversity in life seems to be one of the sparks that have ignited many a talented musician over the years.  The idea that being blind aids hearing and, thus, musical talent is nearly a cliché.  Two of the greatest R&B artists of all time are blind:  Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles; other notable blind musicians include José Feliciano, Clarence Carter, Terri Gibbs, Ronnie Millsap, and Doc Watson.  There are many others who are less well known, such as Blind Lemon Jefferson (apparently the source of the name of the 1990's band Blind Melon), Blind Willie Johnson, Blind Willie McTell, and (from the world of gospel music) the Blind Boys of Alabama and the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi (also called the Five Blind Boys of Alabama, the Original Five Blind Boys of Alabama and the Original Five Blind Boys of Mississippi).  Frontman John Kay of Steppenwolf didn't just wear sunglasses to look cool; he has a degenerative eye disease.  There is no telling how many better known blind artists I am inadvertently omitting, there are so many. 
 
(June 2011)
 
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The entry on the Carter Family in Allmusic (by David Vinopal) includes:  "Comprised of a gaunt, shy gospel quartet member named Alvin P. Carter and two reserved country girls – his wife, Sara [Dougherty Carter], and their sister-in-law, Maybelle [Addington Carter] – the Carter Family sang a pure, simple harmony that influenced not only the numerous other family groups of the '30s and the '40s, but folk, bluegrass, and rock musicians like Woody Guthrie, Bill Monroe, the Kingston Trio, Doc Watson, Bob Dylan, and Emmylou Harris, to mention just a few.  It's unlikely that bluegrass music would have existed without the Carter Family." 

 

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This would be a good time to relate my recent purchase of a one-of-a-kind, three-disc album called Will the Circle be Unbroken (1972).  Unlike nearly all of the other rock and country collaborations that I know about, in this case the rockers hand the keys off to country music legends and let them drive.  Ostensibly (or even technically) a Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album, Wikipedia calls the album a "collaboration from many famous bluegrass and country-western players, including Roy Acuff, 'Mother' Maybelle Carter, Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, Merle Travis, Pete 'Oswald' Kirby, Norman Blake, Jimmy Martin, and others.  It also introduced fiddler Vassar Clements to a wider audience." 

 

(February 2015)

 

Last edited: March 22, 2021