Published by Carl. Last Updated on March 3, 2025.
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Doc Watson is certainly one to remember, and this post is dedicated to facts about the music legend who happened to hail from North Carolina!
- Early Life
- Musical Influences
- Doc’s First Guitar
- Doc the Family Man
- Doc Watson & Son (Merle)
- MerleFest and Later Life
- Richard Watson
- Doc Watson’s Legacy
- Sources Used
Doc Watson’s Early Life
Born on March 3, 1923, in Deep Gap, NC, Arthel Lane “Doc” Watson was one of the world’s most influential folk musicians.
During early childhood, an eye infection resulted in his loss of eyesight. Undeterred, Doc would go on to master both flatpicking and fingerstyle guitar.
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Musical Influences
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Watson’s musical influences started with his mother Annie Greene, who sang folk songs and ballads to her children every day and night. His father General Dixon Watson led singing at Mount Paron Church, contributing to Doc’s earliest musical memories.
Doc learned to play harmonica by age six and he played a steel wire across a woodshed’s sliding door. At 11 years old, his father built a banjo and taught Doc the basics of playing.
When he was 10 years old, Doc began attending the North Carolina State School for the Blind and Deaf in Raleigh. Today, the school is known as the Governor Morehead School.
His musical instruction continued in Raleigh, as Doc was exposed to classical music, big band jazz, and jazz guitarists like Nick Lucas and Django Reinhardt. Doc learned basic chords on the guitar and kept practicing at school and at home.
Doc’s First Guitar
At age 17, Watson and his brother David chopped down chestnut trees and sold the wood to a tannery. Doc used his portion of the earnings to purchase a Sears Silvertone guitar.
He’d eventually switch to Martin guitars, and his first was a D-28. A D-18 featured on Doc’s earliest recordings, but Watson switched to Gallagher Guitars in 1968 and with some exceptions, stuck with them for the rest of his career.
Doc also tried his hand at fiddle, but grew frustrated when trying to learn. This led to Watson selling the fiddle, but he never stopped enjoying fiddle music, and would eventually translate it to the guitar via flatpicking.
Quick Flatpicking Summary: Flatpicking is sometimes confused with the act of playing with a pick, but the method is more complex and is typically confined to bluegrass and folk music. A flatpicker needs a high level of pick control to combine quick picking to perform solos, melodies, and fills.
Doc the Family Man
In 1947, Doc married Rosa Lee Carlton.
Their son Eddy Merle arrived two years later and in 1951, Nancy Ellen joined the family.
During the 1950s, Doc worked as a piano tuner and played guitar for Jack Williams and the Country Gentlemen. The band played country and western swing music, but Doc continued playing fiddle tunes with family and friends.
Doc Watson & Son (Merle)
Doc began playing his fiddle tunes in front of bigger audiences in the early 1960s, thanks to the “Folk Boom” that was in full swing.
Doc recorded his first solo album in 1964 and toured the US, from coast to coast.
At 15 years old, Merle joined Doc in 1964 and the father-son duo’s first show together was the Berkeley Folk Festival.
Doc Watson & Son was the first album that recorded Merle, and the younger Watson joined his dad full-time after graduating from high school. Merle helped his dad by driving and helping with the business side of Doc’s career.
The two continued playing and recording, eventually forming a trio with T. Michael Coleman on bass guitar.
MerleFest and Later Life
Merle Watson tragically died in October 1985, and his death left Doc without his son, partner, and best friend. In fact, Doc decided to quit music on the night before Merle’s funeral.
However, Doc claimed that in a dream, Merle came to him and urged him to “keep going.”
Jack Lawrence, a friend of Merle’s, had previously been filling in and became Doc’s partner. T. Michael Coleman continued playing with Doc and Jack before leaving in October 1987.
In April 1988, Doc hosted the first-ever MerleFest in Wilkesboro. Originally meant to honor Merle and raise money for a memorial garden on the campus of Wilkes Community College, the festival has grown into one of the world’s largest traditional music festivals.
We interviewed former MerleFest Director B Townes about the festival’s origins, where it stands today, and all the people whose tireless efforts have made it a success.
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Richard Watson
Another reminder of Merle was his son Richard, who joined Doc on the MerleFest stage and other venues from 1991 until 2012.
One month after playing MerleFest with his grandson and others, Doc Watson passed away in May 2012 at age 89.
Just a few years later, Richard passed away in 2015 at the age of 48. Doc’s grandson had continued playing MerleFest and carried on the Watson family’s legacy until his death.
During his career, Doc won seven Grammy awards and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 1997, President Bill Clinton presented Watson with the National Medal of Arts.
The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences awarded Doc with a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2004.
For his accomplishments and contributions, Wilkes Community College presented Watson with its first-ever honorary Associate in Arts degree.
Doc was inducted into the NC Music Hall of Fame in 2010.
Doc Watson’s Legacy
Doc Watson’s legacy will live on for many generations beyond his passing.
As previously mentioned, MerleFest (held every April and named for his son Eddy Merle Watson) has become one of the world’s premier “traditional plus” music festivals.
There’s also Doc Watson Day, a free concert at the Jones House in Boone every August.
Of course, you can say “hi” to Doc any time or wish him a happy birthday on March 3 in Boone, Wilkesboro, or along US-421 near Deep Gap—aka the Doc and Merle Watson Highway.
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Sources Used
Places to Learn About Doc Watson
