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- downbytheriver
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"Just one of the people". Boone, NC
Another solo track worth giving a listen to.
From the Winston Salem Journal:
"Watson took to the road, often lonely and alone on buses. He hardly made enough money to get by. He almost quit in the early '60s, and said it was all dues paying up until the early '70s.
He took state disability payments for about 10 years, but kept going out on the road with the thought of giving the money he earned to his family.
"One of the happiest days of my life was when I went over to the welfare office in Boone and told them I didn't need their money anymore, that they could give it to somebody who needed it," he said.
His son Merle had picked up the guitar himself, developing into a world-class fingerpicking stylist. Merle reluctantly took to the road to share the hardships and help his father.
Merle stepped to the side for his father's big break in 1971, when Doc was invited to play on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's three-record album, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken."
The exposure meant there was enough money for Watson to fly to gigs instead of riding the bus. But he kept his roots in Deep Gap, preferring the company of friends and family.
He spoke of Merle's death as the loss not just of a son, but of a best friend.
Watson wanted to quit playing. He intended to, he said, until he had a dream the night before Merle's funeral.
"Every sense was totally alert in that dream," he said. "I was in this real hot place, a desert place. The sand was heavy, almost waist deep, and I could barely drag through it. I felt like I wasn't gonna make it out of there. Then, this big, strong hand reached down and grabbed me, and a voice said, 'Come on Dad, you can make it.' He took me by the hand and guided me out to where it was sunny and light — I have a little light perception, you know. There was a good, cool breeze a-stirrin'. Then, quick as a wink, he was gone. I woke up, and I said, 'Well, I guess I better not quit; I guess I'd better try to go on.' "
MerleFest was started as what was to be a one-time event to raise money for a garden for the senses at Wilkes Community College and to honor Merle.
Watson played there every year since the festival started in 1988. It's billed as an Americana music festival, and Watson termed it as "traditional-plus" music, incorporating roots music like fiddle tunes and mountain ballads, along with country, blues and diverse styles of other acoustic music.
He'd draw crowds when he popped in to play at a pawn shop and music store in North Wilkesboro or at gatherings in Los Angeles, where MerleFest performer Linda Ronstadt saw him.
"Oh, God, when he'd come to town, word would get out and everybody would go down and watch with appropriate reverence," she said in 2009.
Banjo player Bela Fleck, a MerleFest regular, was at the first MerleFest, playing on a stage made from a flat-bed trailer stacked with hay bales.
"I would probably do about anything that Doc Watson asked me to do," Fleck said.
"lance wrote:drymount, man, this is better than Disneyland! chef wrote: I used to think if I died in an evil place, then my soul wouldn't be able to make it to Heaven. But now? drymount! I mean, I don't care where it goes, as long as it ain't here.
- ColonelCash
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- downbytheriver
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No doubt Rice is always a treat to see live. (though when I saw him last year his voice was extremely rough as though he were battling something serious - I don't remember it always having been so raspy)unbroken1 wrote:sad day fer sure, but ^^this^^ title belongs to Tony Ricedownbytheriver wrote:fastest flatpick in The East.
Rice, Dave Grisman, Peter Rowan, the late great Jerry G...and now the likes of Sam Bush & Bela Fleck are some of my favorites to see through the years at Merlefest.
I just googled it: Rice suffers from Dysphonia Never heard of that fudge....jeeezez.
Oh, but to your point. I always considered Rice to be from the West Coast (having grown up in Los Angeles). Though, on further review I see he was actually born close to here in Danville, VA.
"lance wrote:drymount, man, this is better than Disneyland! chef wrote: I used to think if I died in an evil place, then my soul wouldn't be able to make it to Heaven. But now? drymount! I mean, I don't care where it goes, as long as it ain't here.
- downbytheriver
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"lance wrote:drymount, man, this is better than Disneyland! chef wrote: I used to think if I died in an evil place, then my soul wouldn't be able to make it to Heaven. But now? drymount! I mean, I don't care where it goes, as long as it ain't here.
fnord wrote:
RIP Mr.Bradbury
- BlakeAronson
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codeblue rip
8=====D~~~~
- dangerboy
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bob welch, who wrote my favorite fleetwood mac song, hypnotized, and the best not-Fleetwood Mac song not by Fleetwood Mac ever, Sentimental Lady. yeh, i know it was on an old FM album, but nobody knows that version...RIP
and for anyone in the southeast/midatlantic, the original Southern Sportsman, Franc White, with his zebra striped plane and fish and game cookbooks, also passed today at age 86. do yourself a favor. take a kid fishing...
and for anyone in the southeast/midatlantic, the original Southern Sportsman, Franc White, with his zebra striped plane and fish and game cookbooks, also passed today at age 86. do yourself a favor. take a kid fishing...
morecoffee wrote:Consider it perfect and pure...like a virgin who loves ass play and sucking the clown.itsdug wrote:what does mint with pin holes mean?!
pearlybaker wrote:This place is a magnet for retards with some sort of psychosis.
- sidewaysscott
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saaaaaayyy what?!BlakeAronson wrote:codeblue rip
pay via paypal, use credit card,file dispute at the 20 day mark if suspicious. don't deal with noobs. don't trade with noobs. request feedback ahead of time. there are lots of good people 'round here.
- sidewaysscott
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Rodney King
pay via paypal, use credit card,file dispute at the 20 day mark if suspicious. don't deal with noobs. don't trade with noobs. request feedback ahead of time. there are lots of good people 'round here.
- pearlybaker
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dangerboy wrote:bob welch, who wrote my favorite fleetwood mac song, hypnotized, and the best not-Fleetwood Mac song not by Fleetwood Mac ever, Sentimental Lady. yeh, i know it was on an old FM album, but nobody knows that version...RIP
and for anyone in the southeast/midatlantic, the original Southern Sportsman, Franc White, with his zebra striped plane and fish and game cookbooks, also passed today at age 86. do yourself a favor. take a kid fishing...
Didn't bob welch ing Ebony Eyes? I remember my friends sisters getting us stoned with that playing in the background - I was like 9.
Got to love the 70s parenting.
All right Hamilton!
- aahnutz
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Scott Johnson, drum tech for Radiohead, who died in the stage collapse yesterday in Toronto. Very sad news.
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just a foil for me today, thanks