onurblues: Merle Watson

Forever father & son

A real treasure of Appalachian acoustic blend of bluegrass, old country-folk, ragtime and blues delivered by two monsters of the acoustic guitar and banjo, and exhaling the nostalgic perfume of autumnal mist on the Blue Ridge forests around Deep Gap (North Carolina), the Watson family fief.
Compiling live recordings of Merle Watson with his father Doc from the 1970-1976 period, this marvelous album of melancholic or joyful songs, gives a good insight of the musical mix that made Doc and Merle national treasures.

Merle, born in 1949, started to learn how to play guitar in his early teens, then banjo (in 5 months !). At 15, he was playing so well that his father took him to play on his live performances with him and record albums. He was mastering fingerstyle, flat-picking and slide guitar with equal virtuosity. Many music specialists affirm that he was even playing better than his dad. Unfortunately, his brilliant career was cut off suddenly at age 36 when he was crushed to death in a tractor accident.

Since 1988, his memory is kept alive every year during the world famous MerleFest (Merle Watson Memorial Festival) which attracts in Wilkesboro (western North Carolina) the best artists from the traditional American music planet, a genre that both Merle and Doc baptized "traditional plus", meaning "the traditional music of the Appalachian region plus whatever other styles we were in the mood to play", as Doc explained once.

On this tribute album, these "other styles" expand to the 1932 retro song "Miss The Mississippi & You", to jazz with Gershwin's "Summertime" transformed here into a more folkie version, to rock'n'roll with the incredible acoustic guitars-bass-piano swinging version of "Blue Suede Shoes/Tutti Frutti" worth all the rockers versions, and even to a Spanish mood on the final Merle-written song "Thoughts Of Never". But the core of Doc & Merle repertoire is traditional folk ballads, blues and bluegrass, all delivered in the inimitable Watson style.

The folk side features sorrowful ballads like "Omie Wise" and "Frankie & Johnny", the moving hobo's complaint "Wayfaring Stranger" or the mellow "Southern Lady" with first notes seemingly borrowed from George Harrison.
The blues side include "Honey Babe Blues" with Merle on banjo, their beautiful version of "St. James Infirmary", "Honey Please Don't Go" with Merle giving a demonstration of his talent on slide guitar, and the excellent fingerstyle "Nine Pound Hammer".

But it's probably in the country & bluegrass genres that the father & son pair is the most amazing. The outstanding "Nancy Rowland/Salt Creek" necessarily brings memories of the "Dueling Banjos" scene at the beginning of John Boorman 1972 film "Deliverance", even though the soundtrack song, written by Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith, was not played by Doc and/or Merle Watson. But it could easily have been… "New River Train" features additional piano by Bob Hill, and the magnificent "Black Mountain Rag" is played with no less than four guitars ! The jubilant "Mama Don't Allow", a brilliant demonstration of instrumental dexterity including a jazzy guitar solo in the second part, the amazing washboard rubbing of Joe Smothers, and T. Michael Coleman's ability on upright bass, is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the album.

A wonderful way to pay tribute to the late Merle at the time, and now also to Doc who put his guitar down definitely in 2012. ■

Readings & Documentaries

● Doc talks about Merle in an interesting portait-interview on : https://acousticguitar.com/the-rich-musical-legacy-of-doc-and-merle-watson-a-rare-interview/
● An old article about Merle to download in PDF on : https://merlefest.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Remembering_Merle_Watson.pdf
● About the seven-disc box set "Doc & Merle Watson: Never the Same Way Once" : https://thebluegrasssituation.com/read/doc-merle-watson-play-never-the-same-way-once-on-new-box-set/

● "3 days with Doc Watson", a 1976 documentary film by folk researcher A.L. Lloyd : https://youtu.be/i5mZlriOogU
● "Deciphering Doc Watson: A look at his life and influences", another documentary film by Willard Watson III : https://youtu.be/P1LRSrihy00

The MerleFest 
● The History of MerleFest : https://youtu.be/emSi1SiQ58k
● Documentary film on MerleFest 1988 : https://youtu.be/vwjzSoWFL0o
● The site (with a page listing all the artists who have participated from the beginning) : https://merlefest.org

Videos

● Doc Watson discusses Merle's musical influences, and then both play "Make Me A Pallet" and "Streamline Cannonball" : https://youtu.be/Z7iMBBmFlrs

Doc & Merle Watson live
● In 1983 : https://youtu.be/5xaHl5ryeJ0

Merle, T. Michael Coleman & Doc

● In Oberlin (Ohio), 1979 : https://youtu.be/spx2xvBDYvI
● Unknown show details : https://youtu.be/srze24sBxkw
● With T. Michael Coleman : https://youtu.be/kgoZjinEZ5A
● "Summertime" : https://youtu.be/CPpf3FLjuMs
● With T. Michael Coleman, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, David Bromberg and Mark O'Connor, at the Soundstage Bluegrass Festival, 1983 : https://youtu.be/FZHSNpE_0D8

● Rockabilly Medley with David Bromberg, Mark O'Connor, Pete Rowan, John McEuen, Jimmy Ibbotson and T Michael Coleman (on bass), Chicago, 1984 : https://youtu.be/rBt6kJm_nKw
● "Rangement blues" : https://youtu.be/xFLwpaSF2p4

Full detailed album credits
→ 01. Frosty Morn (arranged by Arthel Lane Watson aka Doc Watson). Banjo : Merle Watson - Guitar : Doc Watson.
→ 02. Omie Wise (arranged by Doc Watson). Banjo : Merle Watson – Guitar, Vocals : Doc Watson.

→ 03. Frankie & Johnny (arranged by Doc Watson). Guitar [Fingerstyle] : Merle Watson – Guitar, Vocals : Doc Watson.
→ 04. Honey Babe Blues (arranged by Doc Watson). Banjo : Merle Watson – Guitar, Vocals : Doc Watson.
→ 05. St. James Infirmary (written by J. Primrose aka Irving Mills). Guitar, Vocals : Doc Watson - Lead Guitar : Merle Watson.
→ 06. Honey Please Don't Go (written by J. Hodges). Guitar, Vocals : Doc Watson - Slide Guitar : Merle Watson.
→ 07. Nancy Rowland/Salt Creek (arranged by Doc Watson). Bass : T. Michael Coleman - Guitars [Flat-Picked] : Doc & Merle Watson.
→ 08. Miss The Mississippi & You (written by William H. Heagney aka Bill Halley, not to be mixed up with rock'n'roll musician Bill Haley). Bass : T. Michael Coleman - Guitar, Vocals : Doc Watson - Slide Guitar : Merle Watson.

→ 09. Nine Pound Hammer (arranged by Doc Watson). Bass : T. Michael Coleman - Guitar [Fingerstyle] : Merle Watson - Guitar [Fingerstyle], Vocals : Doc Watson.
→ 10. Summertime (written by DuBose Edwin Heyward and George & Ira Gershwin). Bass : T. Michael Coleman - Guitar, Vocals : Doc Watson - Lead Guitar : Merle Watson.
→ 11. New River Train (arranged by Doc Watson). Banjo : Merle Watson - Bass, Vocals : T. Michael Coleman - Lead Guitar, Vocals : Doc Watson - Piano, Vocals : Bob Hill - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals : Joe Smothers.

→ 12. Black Mountain Rag (arranged by Doc Watson) : Bass : T. Michael Coleman - Guitar [Flat-Picked] : Doc Watson - Guitar [Gut-String] : Bob Hill - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals : Joe Smothers - Slide Guitar : Merle Watson.
→ 13. Southern Lady (written by R. L. Hill aka Bob Hill). Bass : T. Michael Coleman - Guitar [Second] : Doc Watson - Guitar, Lead Vocals : Bob Hill - Lead Guitar : Merle Watson - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals : Joe Smothers.
→ 14. Mama Don't Allow (written by Charles Edward Davenport & Sammy Cahn). Bass : T. Michael Coleman - Guitar [Gut-String] : Bob Hill - Guitar, Vocals : Doc Watson - Slide Guitar : Merle Watson - Washboard : Joe Smothers.

→ 15. Blue Suede Shoes (written by Carl Perkins). Bass, Vocals : T. Michael Coleman - Guitar, Vocals : Doc Watson - Piano, Vocals : Bob Hill - Rhythm Guitar, Vocals : Joe Smothers - Slide Guitar : Merle Watson.
→ 16. Wayfaring Stranger (arranged by Doc Watson). Bass : T. Michael Coleman - Guitar, Vocals : Doc Watson - Lead Guitar : Merle Watson.
→ 17. Thoughts Of Never (written by Eddy Merle Watson). Guitar [Gut-String] : Merle Watson - Piano : Charles Cochran.

- Album concept : Rosalee Watson (Doc's wife).

- Producer : T. Michael Coleman.

- Recorded live between 1970 and 1976 in Bogalusa (Louisiana), Minneapolis (Minnesota), San Francisco (California), St. Louis (Missouri) and Winston-Salem (North Carolina).

A walk through the Merle Watson Memorial "Garden for the Senses" in Wilkesboro (North Carolina)