By any measure, the Appalachian Mountains have been around awhile and it seems as though they gain a little more venerability with every passing year. From these ancient hills emerged Americana roots music and a few weathered troubadours.
Doc Watson, a descendent of the Appalachians and an American treasure, exemplifies everything that's right with playing mountain fiddle tunes. As a singer he is nothing short of powerful and his influence as a picker is unmatched. He can be credited for fusing mountain fiddle tunes and the flattop guitar.
Arthel L. Watson was born to a musically enriched family in Deep Gap, N.C. in 1923. His mother, Annie, sang and his father, General, plucked the banjo. This instrument would pass to Doc, who used it as the starting point for his proliferate musical abilities. By the age of 13, Doc was teaching himself chords on a borrowed guitar and playing along with the radio. He married Rosa Lee Carlton, daughter of fiddler Gaither Carlton, in 1947 and the two extended the music in the family with two children, Merle and Nancy Ellen.
Watson's career then drifted from rockabilly and swing to traditional tunes. His first recording, Old-Time Music at Clarence Ashley's, shows Watson as crisp as a mountain stream. In 1962 he took the stage for a solo performance at Gerde's Folk City in Greenwich Village. The performance pushed him to national prominence and he has toured extensively until 1985.
This old man weathered many storms and remains a grandfather of the folk revival. Like the Appalachians he calls home, Doc Watson has stood longer than most people can imagine.
