Andrew Smith
Managing Editor’s Note:
Once again Andrew Smith of Tasmania lends his substantive expertise in Country Music to an important four CD release with 101 tracks and an 86 page book from Craft Recordings. Doc Watson (1923-2012) holds a special place in the history of Country Music…broadly defined….and merits all the attention from scholars, journalists, and fans that he receives. There are multiple sources to learn of Doc Watson from YouTube videos, Wikipedia, encyclopedia entries, and books to songbooks, journal articles, and internet sources. Andrew Smith possesses the deep cultural and historical perspective on Country Music to insightfully appraise Doc Watson’s Life Work: A Retrospective justice. Smith brings a wide variety of personal references and historical cultural references to this review and recognizes the depth provided by Dr. Ted Olson’s book that accompanies the CD. You can get a sense of Andrew Smith’s great depth of knowledge by reading his biography of Australian Country Music pioneer Tex Morton to be published by the University of Tennessee Press in spring 2023. You will be impressed by how Smith connects Australian Country Music to Jimmie Rodgers and Country Music in the United States. Watch for Andrew Smith to make many more impressive, substantive contributions to International Country Music.net.
I first became aware – and then an avid collector – of “Doc” Watson around 1970, when a friend and I imported vinyl long-play records from the United States to our homes in Australia. From the get-go, we were both hooked, and imported every album by this blind, North Carolinian musician we could lay our hands on. A particular favorite of mine was his Ballads From Deep Gap (North Carolina), which he recorded with his talented son, Merle (who accompanies Doc on many of the tracks in this set). I was particularly taken by their version of The Lawson Family Murder because I was reading a book about the 1929 familicide at the time. Another ballad from North Carolina, Tom Dooley, is a favourite of mine, too. It recounts the 1868 execution of Thomas Dula for the murder of Laura Foster two years earlier. Doc’s version was recorded in 1964. Doc later said his grandmother was with Ann Melton – whom many believed to have been an accomplice to the murder – when she died in 1874. Tom Dooley is, thankfully, on this set.
Ralph Rinzler, who “discovered” Doc in 1960, stated:
[Doc] is single-handedly responsible for the extraordinary increase in acoustic flatpicking and fingerpicking guitar performance. His flatpicking style has no precedent in earlier country music history. “The Day Doc Watson Met Clarence White.”
Doc was also an influence on guitarist Clarence White, of Kentucky Colonels and later Byrds fame.
Over several decades, from the early 1960s, Doc released a plethora of albums, many of which were re-issued and released on compact disc. He recorded with artists of the caliber of Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs and later Earl Scruggs and his sons, Grady Martin and Tommy Jackson, Chet Atkins, Alison Krauss, Ricky Skaggs, and – perhaps most significantly– with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on their landmark Will The Circle Be Unbroken (3-LP set from 1971 released in 1972). Tracks of Doc with all these artists are included in this four-CD set. Performances range from instrumentals to vocals, from old-time groups to relatively modern bands, and from the traditional to more popular genres, all showcasing the versatility of this talented artist. Audio quality is impeccable.
The set comprises a representative sample of Doc’s work in the form of a hardcover book, about 10 inches (26 centimeters) by 12 inches (30 centimeters), containing four compact discs packed inside the covers. There are 101 tracks in all – perhaps the set might well have been titled Doc Watson 101, since it’s a terrific introduction to his recording output. The 86-page book includes a biographical essay on Doc and detailed notes for each track in the collection. Both were penned by Dr Ted Olson, Professor of Appalachian Studies and Bluegrass, Old-Time and Country Music Studies at East Tennessee State University. Dr Olson was previously involved in producing highly acclaimed box sets and single CDs of early country music for the prestigious German Bear Family label with British discographer and country music expert, Tony Russell.
I can thoroughly recommend this collection: listeners new to Doc Watson will hear a relatively eclectic variety of material (but all clearly in the Doc Watson easy-to-listen-to style); and many Doc enthusiasts will likely be missing some of the performances here (several were previously unreleased). Both will welcome the comprehensive essays and notes by Dr Olson, since (in my opinion, anyway) knowledge of both the artist and the song enhances the listening experience.
