Merle Watson was a great guitarist, particularly as a finger-picker and slide player, and Doc has maintained that his (Merle's) playing never got the recognition it deserved. In 1947, Doc married Rosa Lee Carlton, the daughter of popular fiddle player Gaither Carlton. By Jesse Wood. Ashley’s band was booked at a festival in Union Grove, N.C., when Watson caught the attention of folklorist Ralph Rinzler, who was also doubling as a member of the Greenbriar Boys. He went on to be a vital part of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s historic Will the Circle Be Unbroken project. Arthel Lane Watson was born in Deep Gap, N.C., on March 2, 1923. He was best known for his performances with his father, Doc Watson.Merle played and recorded albums together with his father from age 15 until his death in a tractor accident 21 years later. 41 in Greenwich Village. The first song he learned to play on the guitar was "When Roses Bloom in Dixieland", first recorded by the Carter Family in 1930. Doc Watson, the Grammy-winning flatpicking guitarist, died Tuesday (May 29) in Winston-Salem, N.C., following a brief illness. Six more Grammys followed, the last one awarded in 2006. Doc Watson was born in 1920s. In 1953, Watson joined the Johnson City, Tennessee-based Jack Williams' country and western swing band on electric guitar. On May 21, 2012, Watson fell at his home. He was 89 years of age when he died. The name stuck. [32] In 2010, he was awarded an honorary doctor of music degree from Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. More in Music. In 1997, Watson received the National Medal of Arts from U.S. president Bill Clinton. His guitar playing skills, combined with his authenticity as a mountain musician, made him a highly influential figure during the folk music revival. To wrap up, he became a well-known country singer and songwriter. Death of Doc Watson. Watson's fingerstyle and flatpicking skills, as well as his knowledge of traditional American music, were highly regarded. As popular as ever, Doc and Merle began playing as a trio with T. Michael Coleman on bass guitar in 1974. #richard watson #doc watson #merlefest #bluegrass #folk music [27][28][29], In April 2013, Open Records released a multi-disc collection of unreleased recordings by Doc Watson. He is a recipient of a 1988 National Heritage Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. The farewell party live performance . [6] He attended North Carolina's school for the visually impaired, the Governor Morehead School, in Raleigh, North Carolina. Doc Watson died on May 29, 2012, in Winston Salem, North Carolina due to complications from his abdominal surgery. Also of pivotal importance for his career was his February 11, 1961 appearance at P.S. “Corrina” – Doc Watson and Gaither Carlton, 2020. Richard Watson passed away causing so much heartbreak and agony to the beloved family. A fan in the crowd shouted "Call him Doc!" [10], Watson's earliest influences were country roots musicians and groups such as the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers. [20] Watson died on May 29, 2012 at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center[21] of complications following the surgery at the age of 89. It was for best country instrumental performance, a recognition Watson shared with fellow guitarist Bryan Sutton for their rendition of “Whiskey Before Breakfast.”. Watson played a Martin model D-18 guitar on his earliest recordings. Portrait. Here are all of Doc Watson… [24] The collection won the 2002 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album. Envisioned as a one-time event, it proved so popular that it has been staged every year since and now draws upwards of 80,000 ticket-buyers. The name stuck. Richard Eddy Watson — grandson of the late Doc Watson and son of the late Merle Watson, for whom MerleFest is named — died Monday at the age of 48. This generation experienced much of their youth during the Great Depression and rapid t… Discover what happened on this day. His father told him that if he and his brother David chopped down all the small dead chestnut trees along the edge of their field, he could sell the wood to a tannery. The collection, titled Milestones, features 94 songs as well as stories, remembrances, and over 500 photographs. Watson won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. By the time Watson reached adulthood, he had become a proficient acoustic and electric guitar player.[12]. Two years later Merle Fest was inaugurated in remembrance of him.[15]. A cause of death has not been released. Watson was generally joined onstage by his grandson (Merle's son) Richard, as well as longtime musical partners David Holt or Jack Lawrence. Doc Watson was born March 3, 1923 in what is now Deep Gap, N.C., in the Blue Ridge Mountains. By the time he reached his teens, however, he had settled on the guitar as his preferred musical vehicle. In his later life, Watson scaled back his touring schedule. In 1994, Watson teamed up with musicians Randy Scruggs and Earl Scruggs to contribute the classic song "Keep on the Sunny Side" to the AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Country produced by the Red Hot Organization. Watson hosted the annual MerleFest music festival held every April at Wilkes Community College in Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Impressed by what he saw and heard, Rinzler booked Ashley’s band at gigs in New York City and Los Angeles. [13] In 1985, Merle died in a tractor accident on his family farm. 71 in 1973) and “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” (No. Doc Watson, a master storyteller, was one of the pioneering artists of roots-conscious Americana. Blinded by a vascular disease while still an infant, he nonetheless absorbed the songs and musical styles he heard from his family. Doc Watson cause of death In late May 2012, Watson was listed in critical condition but was responsive at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, after undergoing colon surgery. He was 89. It was an annual tradition for Watson to join the Nashville Bluegrass Band for a gospel set on the festival's Sunday morning. You could hear the mountains of North Carolina in Doc Watson's music. Watson told one interviewer the first song he learned to play on the guitar was the Carter Family’s wistful “When the Roses Bloom Again in Dixieland.” Throughout his long career, he maintained a fondness for such Appalachian ballads, although his musical repertoire grew to extend well beyond that genre, eventually embracing blues, rockabilly (for which he played electric guitar) and country. A fan in the crowd shouted "Call him Doc!" Doc Watson - Biography. Musician. The Farewell Party — Gene Watson Biography. Watson was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2010. According to Watson on his three-CD biographical recording Legacy, he got the nickname "Doc" during a live radio broadcast when the announcer remarked that his given name Arthel was odd and he needed an easy nickname. [23], In 2002, High Windy Audio released a multi-CD biographical album titled Legacy. The economic boom and the Jazz Age were over, and America began the period called the Great Depression. 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