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The sixth of
nine children, Arthel Lane “Doc” Watson was born
in Stoney Fork, Watauga County, North Carolina on
March 3, 1923, to Annie Greene and General Dixon
Watson. When he was born, he had a defect in the
vessels that carry blood to the eyes. He later
developed an eye infection, which caused him to
completely loose his vision before his first
birthday. He was raised, and still resides, in
Deep Gap, North Carolina.
Doc's mother
would frequently sing old time songs and ballads
while doing chores during the day and she sung her
children to sleep at night. In the evenings the
family read from the Bible and sung hymns from the
Christian Harmony, a shape-note book published in
1866. Doc’s father, a farmer and laborer, led the
singing at the local Baptist church. Doc has said
that his earliest memories of music reach back to
his days as a young child being held in his
mother’s arms at the Mt. Patron Church and
listening to the harmony and shape-note singing.
The first songs he remembers hearing are “The Lone
Pilgrim” and “There is a Fountain.” Singing led to
an interest in making music and Doc says that he
began “playing with anything around the house that
made a musical sound.”
When Doc first began playing the guitar he learned
the old Carter Family “thumb lead” style. He said
that at first he would just "strum and play”
because it took him a while to learn how to play
lead. After he had learned to play the Carter
style with a thumb pick, Doc says, “I began to
listen to Jimmie Rodgers recordings seriously and
I figured, Hey, he must be doing that with one of
them straight picks. So I got me one and began to
work at it. Then I began to learn the Jimmie
Rodgers licks on then guitar, then all at once I
began to figure out, Hey, I could play that Carter
stuff a lot better with a flat pick.”
In an
interview conducted by Ron Stanford in August of
1970 and printed, in part, in the introduction to
the Oak Publications book The Songs of Doc Watson,
Doc is quoted as saying, “When I play a song, be
it on the guitar or banjo, I live that song,
whether it is a happy song or a sad song. Music,
as a whole, expresses many things to
me--everything from beautiful scenery to the
tragedies and joys of life. . . . Whether I'm
playing for myself or for an enthusiastic
audience, I can get the same emotions I had when I
found that Dad had seen to it that Santa Claus
brought exactly what I wanted for Christmas. A
true entertainer, I think, doesn't ever lose that
feeling.” Later, in an interview printed in Frets
Magazine (March 1987), Doc says, “There are so
many players that play for show; and then there
are some that play for the love. Man, you sure can
tell the difference when you sit down and listen
to them.” Playing for the love of music is what
has sustained Doc Watson through the ups and downs
of a professional career that has spanned nearly
50 years.
[Extracts
from an article reprinted from Flatpicking Guitar
Magazine,
Volume 2, Number 6 (September/October 1998) by
Dan Miller]
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