Editing Doc Watson (section)

==Biography==
===Early life===
Watson was born in [[Deep Gap, North Carolina]].<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=1997|edition=Concise|isbn=1-85227-745-9|pages=1235/6}}</ref>  According to Watson on his three-CD biographical recording ''[[Legacy (Doc Watson album)|Legacy]]'', he got the nickname "Doc" during a live radio broadcast when the announcer remarked that his given name Arthel was odd and he needed an easy nickname. A fan in the crowd shouted "Call him Doc!", presumably in reference to the literary character [[Sherlock Holmes]]'s companion, [[Doctor Watson]].  The name stuck.<ref name="Legacy">
{{cite video
  | people = Doc Watson
  | title = [[Legacy (Doc Watson album)|Legacy]] 
  | publisher = High Windy Audio
  | medium = CD
  |date = 2002}}</ref>

An eye infection caused Watson to lose his vision before his second birthday.<ref name="Larkin"/> He attended North Carolina's school for the blind, the [[Governor Morehead School]], in [[Raleigh, North Carolina]].<ref name="Kaufman">{{cite book| last = Kaufman| first = Steve| title = The Legacy of Doc Watson| publisher = Mel Bay Publications| year = 1999| page = 152| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=Et6zwlhPwUcC | isbn = 978-0-7866-3393-7}}</ref>

In a 1989 radio interview with [[Terry Gross]] on the ''[[Fresh Air]]'' show on [[National Public Radio]], Watson spoke about how he got his first guitar. His father told him if he and his brother David chopped down all the small dead [[chestnut tree]]s along the edge of their field, they could sell the wood to a [[tannery]].  Watson bought a Sears Silvertone from [[Sears Roebuck]] with his earnings,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://equipboard.com/pros/doc-watson/sears-silvertone-1448l-model-57|work=equipboard.com|title=The Guitar of Doc Watson}}</ref> while his brother bought a new suit.<ref name="firstguitar">
{{cite web
| title =Doc Watson
| date =September 3, 2010
| publisher =Npr.org
| url =https://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=129579152
| access-date =2010-09-03 }}</ref> Later in the same interview, Watson mentioned that his first high-quality guitar was a [[C. F. Martin & Company|Martin]] D-18.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.fretbase.com/blog/2010/9/doc-watsons-first-martin-guitar/ |title=Fretbase, Doc Watson's first Martin Guitar |publisher=Fretbase.com |date=September 9, 2010 |access-date=2012-05-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120307230958/http://www.fretbase.com/blog/2010/9/doc-watsons-first-martin-guitar/ |archive-date=March 7, 2012 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

Watson's earliest influences were country roots musicians and groups such as the [[Carter Family]] and [[Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)|Jimmie Rodgers]]. The first song he learned to play on the guitar was "When Roses Bloom in Dixieland", first recorded by the [[Carter Family]] in 1930. Watson said in an interview with ''[[American Songwriter]]'' that "[[Jimmie Rodgers]] was the first man that I started to claim as my favorite."<ref>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.americansongwriter.com/2012/05/r-i-p-doc-watson-read-our-2012-interview/|title=R.I.P. Doc Watson; Read Our 2012 Interview|magazine=[[American Songwriter]]|access-date=May 30, 2012}}</ref>  Watson proved to be a natural musical talent and within months was performing on local street corners playing songs from the [[Delmore Brothers]], [[Louvin Brothers]], and [[Bill Monroe|Monroe Brothers]] alongside his brother Linny. By the time Watson reached adulthood, he had become a proficient acoustic and electric guitar player.<ref name="misterguitar">{{cite web|url=http://www.misterguitar.com/bios/watsonbio.html|title=Doc Watson|publisher=Chet Atkins: Mister Guitar – Books & Bios|work=misterguitar.com/bios|access-date=2008-11-28}}</ref>

===Career===
[[File:Doc Watson 1994-4.jpg|thumb|Watson performing in 1994]]

In 1953, Watson joined the [[Johnson City, Tennessee]]–based Jack Williams's [[country and western]] [[Swing music|swing]] band on [[electric guitar]]. The band seldom had a [[fiddle]] player, but was often asked to play at [[square dance]]s. Following the example of country guitarists [[Grady Martin]] and [[Hank Garland]], Watson taught himself to play fiddle tunes on his [[Gibson Les Paul]] electric guitar. He later transferred the technique to acoustic guitar, and playing fiddle tunes became part of his signature sound.<ref name="miller"/><ref name="AG">{{cite web | last = Havighurst | first = Craig | title = Living Legacy | publisher = Acoustic Guitar magazine | date = June 2003 | url = http://www.acousticguitar.com/issues/ag126/feature126.html | access-date = November 20, 2009 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090429095130/http://www.acousticguitar.com/issues/ag126/feature126.html | archive-date = April 29, 2009 | df = mdy-all }}</ref>  During his time with Jack Williams, Watson also supported his family as a [[piano tuner]].

In 1960, as the [[American folk music revival]] grew, Watson took the advice of folk [[musicologist]] and [[Smithsonian]] [[curator]] [[Ralph Rinzler]] and began playing acoustic guitar and [[banjo]] exclusively.<ref name="Kaufman" /> That move ignited Watson's career when he played on his first recording, ''Old Time Music at [[Clarence Ashley]]'s''.  Also of pivotal importance for his career was his February 11, 1961, appearance at [[P.S. 41]] in [[Greenwich Village]].<ref name="NYT">{{cite news | last = Grimes | first = William | title = Doc Watson, Blind Guitar Wizard Who Influenced Generations, Dies at 89 | newspaper = New York Times  | date = May 29, 2012 | url =https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/30/arts/music/doc-watson-folk-musician-dies-at-89.html | access-date = May 30, 2012}}</ref> He then began to tour as a solo performer and appeared at universities and clubs like the [[Ash Grove (music club)|Ash Grove]] in [[Los Angeles]]. Watson eventually got his big break and rave reviews for his performance at the [[Newport Folk Festival]] in [[Newport, Rhode Island]] in 1963.<ref name="Larkin"/> Watson recorded his [[Doc Watson (album)|first solo album]] in 1964 and began performing with his son [[Merle Watson|Merle]] in the same year.<ref name="Larkin"/>

After the folk revival waned during the late 1960s, Doc Watson's career was sustained by his performance of the [[Jimmy Driftwood]] song "[[Tennessee Stud]]" on the 1972 live album recording ''[[Will the Circle be Unbroken (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album)|Will the Circle Be Unbroken]]''.  As popular as ever, Doc and Merle began playing as a trio with [[T. Michael Coleman]] on bass guitar in 1974. The trio toured the globe during the late seventies and early eighties, recording eleven albums between 1973 and 1985, and bringing Doc and Merle's unique blend of acoustic music to millions of new fans.<ref name="AG"/> In 1985, Merle died in a tractor accident on his family farm. Two years later [[MerleFest|Merle Fest]] was inaugurated in remembrance of him.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.readthehook.com/86014/interview-docs-orders-no-heavy-metal-merlefest|title=Interview- Doc's orders: No heavy metal at MerleFest|website=Readthehook.com|access-date=2016-05-16|archive-date=May 30, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160530212257/http://www.readthehook.com/86014/interview-docs-orders-no-heavy-metal-merlefest|url-status=dead}}</ref>[[File:DocW Sculpture Boone.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Watson sculpture on the corner of King and Depot Streets in [[Boone, North Carolina]]. The plaque on the bench reads "Just one of the People".]]

{{quote box|width=22em|[[Arlen Roth]] writes, "...we can attribute an entirely new style and a whole generation of pickers to [Watson's] inspiration.  He was the first rural acoustic player to truly 'amaze' urban audiences in the early 1960s with his dazzling, fast technique, and he has continued to be a driving, creative force on the acoustic music scene."<ref>{{cite book| last=Roth| first=Arlen| title=Arlen Roth's complete acoustic guitar| publisher=Schirmer Books| date=1985| page=47| isbn=0-02-872150-0}}</ref>}}

Doc Watson played guitar in both [[flatpicking]] and [[Fingerstyle guitar|fingerpicking]] style, but is best known for his flatpick work. His guitar playing skills, combined with his authenticity as a mountain musician, made him a highly influential figure during the folk music revival. He pioneered a fast and flashy [[Bluegrass music|bluegrass]] lead guitar style including fiddle tunes and [[crosspicking]] techniques which were adopted and extended by [[Clarence White]], [[Tony Rice]] and many others. Watson was also an accomplished banjo player and sometimes accompanied himself on harmonica as well. Known also for his distinctive and rich [[baritone]] voice, Watson over the years developed a vast repertoire of mountain [[ballad]]s, which he learned via the [[oral tradition]] of his home area in [[Deep Gap, North Carolina]].

Watson played a [[C.F. Martin & Company|Martin]] model D-18 guitar on his earliest recordings. In 1968, Watson began a relationship with Gallagher Guitars when he started playing their G-50 model. His first Gallagher, which Watson referred to as "Ol' Hoss", was on display at the [[Country Music Hall of Fame]] in [[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]] before residing at the Gallagher shop until 2012, when it was auctioned through [[Christie's]] on November 27, 2012.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Release: Christie's to Offer a Range of Fine Musical Instruments in November from Italian Masters to Contemporary Classics |url=https://www.christies.com/about-us/press-archive/details?PressReleaseID=5934&lid=1&mob-is-app=false |access-date=2022-07-23 |website=www.christies.com |language=en}}</ref> In 1974, Gallagher created a customized G-50 line to meet Watson's preferred specifications, which bears the Doc Watson name. In 1991, Gallagher customized a personal [[Cutaway (guitar)|cutaway]] guitar for Watson that he played until his death and which he referred to as "Donald" in honor of Gallagher guitar's second-generation proprietor and builder, Don Gallagher.<ref name="callow">{{cite web|url=http://www.gallagherguitar.com/flatpickart.html|title=Gallagher Guitars|last=Callow|first=John|date=January 1997|publisher=Flatpicking Guitar Magazine, Vol 1, No 2|work=flatpick.com|access-date=2008-11-28|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081108001406/http://www.gallagherguitar.com/flatpickart.html|archive-date=November 8, 2008|df=mdy-all}}</ref> During his last years, Watson played a [[Dana Bourgeois]] [[Dreadnought (guitar type)|dreadnought]] given to him by [[Ricky Skaggs]] for his 80th birthday. Another of Watson's favorites was his Arnold guitar, "The Jimmie", built by luthier John Arnold as a tribute to the famous 1926 Martin 00-18 played by [[Jimmie Rodgers (country singer)|Jimmie Rodgers]].

In 1994, Watson teamed with musicians [[Randy Scruggs]] and [[Earl Scruggs]] to contribute the classic song "[[Keep on the Sunny Side]]" to the AIDS benefit album [[Red Hot + Country]] produced by the [[Red Hot Organization]].

===Later life===
[[File:Merlewatson.jpg|right|thumb|200px|Merle Watson, c. 1979]]

In his later life, Watson scaled back his touring schedule. He was generally joined onstage by his grandson (Merle's son) Richard, as well as longtime musical partners [[David Holt (musician)|David Holt]] or [[Jack Lawrence (bluegrass)|Jack Lawrence]]. On June 19, 2007, Watson was accompanied by Australian guitar player [[Tommy Emmanuel]] at a concert at the [[Bass Performance Hall]] in [[Fort Worth, Texas]]. Watson also performed, accompanied by Holt and Richard, at the [[Hardly Strictly Bluegrass]] festival in [[San Francisco]] in 2009, as he had done for several previous festivals.

Watson hosted the annual [[MerleFest]] music festival held every April at [[Wilkes Community College]] in [[Wilkesboro, North Carolina]]. The festival features a vast array of acoustic style music focusing on the folk, bluegrass, [[blues]] and old-time music genres. It was named in honor of Merle Watson and is one of the most popular acoustic music festivals in the world, drawing over 70,000 music fans each year.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/people/obit/story/2012-05-29/doc-watson-dies/55271498/1 | title=Doc Watson, folk music legend, dies at 89 | work=[[USA Today]] | date=May 30, 2012 | access-date=May 30, 2012 | last=Mansfield | first=Brian | archive-date=May 30, 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120530103832/http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/obit/story/2012-05-29/doc-watson-dies/55271498/1 | url-status=dead }}</ref> The festival has continued after his death.

Watson was inducted into the [[North Carolina Music Hall of Fame]] in 2010.<ref>{{cite web|title=2010 Inductees|url=http://northcarolinamusichalloffame.org/category/inductees/2010-inductees/|publisher=North Carolina Music Hall of Fame|access-date=September 10, 2012}}</ref>