Editing Doc Watson (section)

===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]].