The man who has had the deepest, most enduring, and most profound influence on the way the acoustic flat top guitar is played as a lead instrument in folk, traditional, and bluegrass music today is Arthel “Doc” Watson. He has had a profound influence in traditional, folk and bluegrass music ever since coming to national attention in the early 1960’s. His recordings and performances have inspired generations of aspiring guitarists to explore the mysteries of his phenomenal playing.
The sixth of nine children, Doc was born in Stoney Fork, Watauga County, North Carolina on 3 March, 1923. An eye infection caused him to completely lose his vision before his first birthday.
Doc’s musical education began at his mother’s knee listening to her singing old time songs and ballads and at the age of six he began to learn the harmonica. His first stringed instrument, not including a steel wire he had strung across the woodshed’s sliding door to provide bass accompaniment to his harmonica playing, was a banjo his father built for him when he was eleven years old. He got his first guitar a couple of years later. Doc got a job playing electric lead guitar in Jack Williams’ country and western swing band, Jack Williams and the Country Gentlemen in 1953, and it was only then that he began making money as a professional musician. It was during his eight year stay with Williams that he began to develop his ability to flatpick fiddle tunes on the guitar. While Elvis, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, and other pop icons of the 50’s and 60’s certainly played a large role in bolstering the guitar’s popularity, the man who has had the deepest, most enduring, and most profound influence on the way the acoustic flat top guitar is played as a lead instrument is Doc Watson.
Doc’s influence extends far beyond the small niche of guitar players who try to faithfully reproduce his guitar breaks because Doc Watson is not just a guitar player and singer – he is an American hero. To be recognized as a “national treasure” by President Jimmy Carter, honoured with the National Medal of the Arts by President Bill Clinton, and given an honorary doctorate degree from the University of North Carolina calls for being more than a fine musician and entertainer. Doc Watson received these accolades not just for his talent, but for the honor, integrity, humility, grace, and dignity which he has displayed throughout his long and distinguished career. While there are many, many great guitar players and singers; there is only one Doc Watson.
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