Doc Watson in critical condition after fall

**Ivan Kelsall** · May-26-2012, 2:16am

In 1965,Ralph Rinzler brought Doc over here to the UK & he & the New Lost City Ramblers played Manchester's old concert hall,The Free Trade Hall & i went to see him. I'd heard of Doc,but knew nothing about him.I was somewhat dumbstruck when RR brought Doc,who was carrying his Guitar,onto the stage & sat him down on a chair & placed his banjo at his side.It was obvious then that Doc was blind,but the biggest shock was his ability to play even with his disability.I'd never experienced anything like it & i was rivetted by his amazing talent. It was after that show that RR told us that he intended to try to bring Bill Monroe over the next year,which he succeeded in doing - those were 2 good years to remember,
Ivan

**Jacob** · May-26-2012, 4:35am

Watson doing better after surgery manager says

**journeybear** · May-26-2012, 7:46am

Thanks for the update. From the article:

The management company will post updates on its website at www.folkloreproductions.com.

Look to the upper right of the page for the “Doc Watson Health Update.”

The second link takes you right to it.

**Brutus1999** · May-26-2012, 11:09am

When I was a freshman in college, 1963, I didn't know much about bluegrass music. Just liked the sparkling banjo as played by Pete Seeger and Earl Scruggs. So I picked up an album by Roger Sprung, an unsung "hero" of the bluegrass revival who played New York City in the early-mid 1960's and influenced many soon-to-be more famous other musicians. The album was Folkways - "Progressive Bluegrass". Sprung's playing was great on a number of "non-bluegrass" songs, although I didn't much like the drums. But there was this one instrument....I hadn't heard anything quite like it .. single string, strong midrange attack, quick decay, rapid fire.

I checked the album notes -- it was Doc Watson, playing Lead Guitar. I never heard a guitar sound like that -- but could it be made out of lead? How heavy would that be? Is that how he got that amazing sound? It was some time later that I found out that the word "lead" was pronounced "leed" and that the guitar, was, indeed made out of wood. That was about the time I was on my third harmonica when I accidentally found out that if you inhaled, you got different notes! It made my playing a lot more versatile. AH, the early 1960's, before the internet or even many instruction books! Just records and concerts. I saw Doc at Newport in 1964 and at a small venue in Chicago in the 1970's. Like Monroe on mando and Scruggs on banjo, Doc defined a style. Others may play "faster" but these three were all instrumental in helping music make important transformations..........

Now about my mandolin playing -- I have a pick that my friend used when he worked in the coal mine, but I'm having a hard time holding it such that I can get a tremolo sound of my mandolin, and it keeps scratching the finish in my old junky 1923 Gibson Lear, or something like that, model.......

**pefjr** · May-26-2012, 1:15pm

I believe it was about 1980, when I first heard Doc.

**jim simpson** · May-26-2012, 5:42pm

I remember seeing Doc Watson when he told this joke:

An older gentleman had lost his hearing aid and wanted to get a new one. Before getting the new hearing aid, he wanted his ear cleaned out, so he went to his doctor. As the doctor was cleaning his ears, he noticed a foreign object lodged in the man's ear canal. With a pair a tweezers, the doctor removed the object. Upon closer examination, he discovered that it was a suppository. The doctor told the older gentleman that he had a suppository stuck in his ear. At this, the man exclaimed, "Now I know where I put my hearing aid!"

You could have swore this happened to him as he told it so well.

He played with Jack Lawrence and Michael T. Coleman. I also got to see Doc and Dawg on tour.

Hope he continues to improve.