You could hear the mountains of North Carolina in Doc Watson's
music. The rush of a mountain stream, the steady creak of a mule in
leather harness plowing rows in topsoil and the echoes of ancient sounds
made by a vanishing people were an intrinsic part of the folk
musician's powerful, homespun sound.
It
took Watson decades to make a name for himself outside the world of
Deep Gap, N.C. Once he did, he ignited the imaginations of countless
guitar players who learned the possibilities of the instrument from the
humble picker who never quite went out of style. From the folk revival
of the 1960s to the Americana movement of the 21st century, Watson
remained a constant source of inspiration and a treasured touchstone
before his death Tuesday at age 89.
Blind
from the age of 1, Watson was left to listen to the world around him
and it was as if he heard things differently from others. Though he knew
how to play the banjo and harmonica from an early age, he came to favor
the guitar. His flat-picking style helped translate the fiddle- and
mandolin-dominated music of his forebears for an audience of younger
listeners who were open to the tales that had echoed off the mountains
for generations, and to the new lead role for the guitar.
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