All my traveling companions are going Doc Watson, Blind Guitar Wizard Who Influenced Generations, Dies at 89 Doc Watson, the guitarist and folk singer whose flat-picking style elevated the acoustic guitar to solo status in bluegrass and country music, and whose interpretations of traditional American music profoundly influenced generations of folk and rock guitarists, died on Tuesday in Winston-Salem, N.C. He was 89. “He is single-handedly responsible for the extraordinary increase in acoustic flat-picking and fngerpicking guitar performance,” said Ralph Rinzler, the folklorist who discovered Mr. Watson in 1960. “His flat-picking style has no precedent in earlier country music history.”
Born of a clan of West Virginia coal miners I'm a huge Doc Watson fan. I started playin' bluegrass a couple of decades ago (too late actually) and I'm amazed and how much music Doc got out of his thumb and first finger picking. Listen to his stuff; he's using only his thumb and first finger. Incredible.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyQOCJ4SUSk />
Join your son Doc. He's flat pickin' in Bluegrass Heaven
I play guitar and started way to late as well. Love great pickers, whatever the genre. Guys like Doc inspired one of my all time favorite acoustic licks, "Wanted: Dead or Alive" written and performed by Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi. This wasn't Doc's style of music per se, but making the acoustic sound "oh so good" was something he handed down.
