Shady Grove

You can find several version of Doc Watson performing this traditional folk song on YouTube but I like this best, because you can hear Doc's wonderful speaking voice and telling the story of how he met his wife RosaLee.  RosaLee and Doc were married for 65 years, with RosaLee passing six months after Doc in 2012.  Ms THC and I saw Doc perform in 1978.  An appropriate song for Valentine's Day.

Deep River Blues

 I had the privilege of seeing Doc Watson play in Paris in 1978.  Doc, who lost his sight before turning two due to an infection, called Deep Gap, way up in the North Carolina mountains, his home from his birth in 1923 until his death in 2012.  A guitar master with a fine voice (and his deep and warm speaking voice just invited you in) here he is performing Deep River Blues in 1962.

 

While putting this together I came across another gem - a performance of Down In The Valley To Pray from the early 2000s.  Many originally heard the song in O Brother Where Art Thou? when it was called Down In The River To Pray and performed by Alison Kraus.  In this video, Doc is joined by Alison and Ricky Skaggs, while Earl Scruggs sits next to Doc.  We learn that Alison learned the song from Doc who, in turn, learned it from his grandmother who he remembers singing it as she churned butter on the porch.

And finally, here are rehearsals sessions from 2001 with Dolly Parton, preparing for Merlefest, the annual tribute to Doc's guitar playing son, with whom he toured for many year, who died in 1985 in an accident on the family farm.  The song is The Last Thing on My Mind, written by Tom Paxton, a 60s folk musician.  Listen in particular to the first three minutes.

Will The Circle Be Unbroken

Growing up in the northeast I wasn't exposed to country music though, as a fan of The Byrds, I'd heard their take on the genre in 1968's Sweetheart of the Rodeo.  The first time I remember really listening to old-time country was with the release of a triple album in 1972 - Will The Circle Be Unbroken.  The album cover was unusual - it pictured some old fogey (actually Union Admiral David Dixon Porter); the long list of names was hard to read and made it hard to tell whose record this was, and the prominent display of Confederate flags makes it questionable whether it would be released in this form today.

The album was recorded in August 1971 as a project of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, a California-based group of country-rockers who'd had a minor hit in 1967 with Buy For Me The Rain and more success with the 1969 release of a cover of Jerry Jeff Walker's Mr Bojangles.  Their idea was to bring the band together with some of the icons of traditional country music to, as the album cover states, "form a new Circle".  It took some persuading to get the participants together, but the result was memorable - 38 songs, all recorded on the first or second takes, and snippets of in-studio conversation.  On all the tune, the Dirt Band provides the core instrumentation..

The featured country artists:

Mother Maybelle Carter (1909-78) of the famous Carter Family act and mother of June Carter, the second wife of Johnny Cash.  Known for her guitar and girlish voice.

The popularizer of the three finger banjo picking style, Earl Scruggs (1924-2012), with his breakthrough country hit of 1949, Foggy Mountain Breakdown.  Many of us non-country listeners first heard him on The Ballad of Jed Clampett.

My personal favorite, Doc Watson (1923-2012) whom THC has posted on before, with his marvelous guitar picking and resonant and comforting singing and speaking voice.

The famous country fiddler, Roy Acuff (1903-92).

Merle Travis (1917-83), singer, songwriter, and inventor of travis style picking guitar.

The King of Bluegrass, the guitar and mandolin playing Jimmy Martin (1927-2005).

The album also introduced master fiddler Vassar Clements (1928-2005) to a wider audience.

And now, let's listen to some music.

A Merle Travis composition, Dark As A Dungeon, featuring Merle on vocals.

A Jimmie Driftwood song, Tennessee Stud, with Doc Watson on vocals and guitar with Clements on fiddle.

The Hank Williams standard, I Saw The Light.  Roy Acuff vocals, Earl Scruggs banjo, Watson guitar, and Clements on fiddle.

Maybelle Carter singing Wildwood Flower, written by her brother-in-law AP Carter.  Earl Scruggs on banjo, and Maybelle on autoharp.

Earl's Breakdown with, no surprise, Earl Scruggs on banjo and Clements on fiddle.

Will The Circle Be Unbroken.  Maybelle Carter vocals on first verse, Jimmy Martin on second, Roy Acuff on third.  Watson & Travis on guitar, Scruggs on banjo, and Clements on fiddle.  The original version of the song by composers Ada R Habershon and Charles H Gabrieldates to 1907.  The version below was rewritten in the 1930s by AP Carter with new lyrics and a modified chorus.

In A Shady Grove With Doc Watson

(Doc from docsguitar.com)

THC's first recollection of Doc Watson is hearing him on Will The Circle Be Unbroken, the 1972 double album by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band featuring many "old-timey" country artists including Earl Scruggs, Merle Travis, Roy Acuff and Mother Maybelle Carter along with Doc.  THC later saw Doc, and his son Merle, do a wonderful concert in Paris during 1978.  Doc had a great guitar style and his speaking and singing voice was warm and mesmerizing.

Born in 1923 in Deep Gap, North Carolina way up in the Smoky Mountains, Arthel Lee "Doc" Watson was blind by the age of one due to an eye infection.  Learning guitar he began playing with bands by 1940.   His repertoire encompassed bluegrass, country and folk music and the flatpicking style he developed placed the acoustic guitar as a lead instrument in country and bluegrass.
(Doc with Doc Watson statue in Boone, NC from highcountrypress.com)
Here's Doc performing Black Mountain Rag in 1991.  You'll recognize his version from its inclusion on several movie soundtracks:
This is Doc and the guys performing Tennessee Stud from Will The Circle Be Unbroken.  Just listen to that voice!
And finally, here is Shady Grove.  He starts by talking about how he met Rosa Lee, his wife of 62 years, who died in 2009.  Doc passed away in 2012 at the age of 89.