Doc Watson, American Music Icon

I was fortunate to finally see one of my favorite musicians, Doc Watson, Thursday night. Thanks to our good friends Lee & Rob we got great balcony tickets at the Fox Theater in Redwood City. A converted movie theater, the venue is great for concerts, with easy access, good sightlines and excellent acoustics.

I’ve been enjoying Doc’s music since the mid-70’s but hadn’t seen him before. It was a great pleasure to hear him play a variety of songs, including many old favorites as well as some I hadn’t heard before. He played one set with David Holt, who accompanied him on rhythm guitar or banjo. Doc opened the second set with a few solo numbers and was then joined by his grandson, Richard Watson. Together they made some fine music, and after a few songs David joined them for the last couple of songs.

Doc was in great voice, but did occasionally show the fullness of his 80 years, with some very occasional slightly rough guitar playing. He more than made up for that though with all the clear, crisp notes he played most of the time. There was more than one time when he got in a groove and you knew that he knew, and it was all good.

2 thoughts on “Doc Watson, American Music Icon”

  1. I am a first grade teacher in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. My class desperately needs to chart the daily temperatures for New York City for the entire month of January 2004…or at least one week…can you help me by giving us a site that will provide this information? I have found sites, but they only give the mean temp for January rather than a daily one. We need to compare these temperatures with the same time period for Southern Florida, so, if possible, a site that would provide both would be most helpful!

Comments are closed.