I called Doc a legend and he just shook his head no. He said, I'm not a legend. I'm just a country boy who likes to pick the guitar...just like you. He was a true gentleman. Very humble and common. Thanks for the autograph Doc and Richard. Rest in Peace Doc, Merle and Richard. Mike Pardue ✌
I dont mean to be offtopic but does anyone know of a tool to get back into an instagram account..? I was dumb forgot the account password. I love any assistance you can offer me
@Cyrus Noe thanks for your reply. I found the site on google and im trying it out now. I see it takes a while so I will reply here later with my results.
I been a fan of doc merle and michael for many years before billy, but i am so glad billy is bringing attention to doc and the boys, they are musical master’s👍👍
1978 was about the first time I ever attended a Doc Watson concert at the old Birchmere in Alexandria VA. I'll never forget it, he was performing "Smoke that Cigarette" when I walked in the front door. I'll have to apologize to the other patrons in the audience because I know my jaw was dropped wide open for the whole show.
I wish everyone could appreciate the talent on that stage. The world was a better place when they were still with us. God bless them always. They will always be missed & treasured. 🇺🇸🎵🎶🎸🤗🌹🌹
I Love this music in the service me and a friend 2 Latinos from New Mexico when we finally touch base few years after discharge we where talking he asked how did I like the service I said at times it was ruff did you meet some cool people we both almost at the same time them southern boys Virginia North Carolina Kentucky Tennessee Georgia ,them country Boys they where the best people I have ever met we both agreed there like us country down to earth we where like in total agreement they were good guys back you up treat us with respect welcomed us and we welcomed them .God Bless these people from the land of fast guitar picking with a story to tell...RocknRollFlat5
I saw Doc & Merle some time in the 1970s at Stanford. He was the opening act for Gordon LIghtfoot. Doc tore it up. He had the entire stadium eating out of his hands. Then came Lightfoot, who stunk it up. Lightfoot would sing one song, then go on to the next without saying a word to the audience. After a while, the audience began shouting at him "say something!!!!" Because you see, Doc talked to the audience like he was your favorite uncle. He spoke directly to you, and you responded in kind. To have Lightfoot up there with silence between numbers was a massive letdown. Soon the crowd started yelling "bring back Doc!!!" That was my introduction to Doc Watson, and I became a fan from that moment on.
This was right around the time Doc was doing the early 'Bluegrass Festival' circuit, and I got to see him, The Country Gentlemen, Del McCoury, and many others at Halifax, Pa. in 1978. Good times and great people!!😉🎵🎶
100 years from now, people will still have an ear for this kind of music. There is something raw and real about this that human beings will always relate to. As a musician and 58 I am late to the Doc Watson party, but am here now, via Billy Strings. Great stuff!
I opened for Doc & Merle, with T. Michael Coleman on Bass in 1976 in Bradenton, Florida. I was a guest (I am a pro harmonica player 48 years and started in Bluegrass Bands in FL as a kid) with a family band called "The Poindexters". They can be seen on the back jacket of the LP, first solo album by Dickie Betts (Allman Bros) called "Highway Call". We were the opening act and they had drums although played quite a few Bluegrass tunes. I remember though talking to T. Michael Coleman....my first time seeing a fretless electric bass, especially playing Bluegrass! I also opened for them again in 1978 in Southern California at a theatre, again I was in the opening trio, me on harp and a male/female folk duo. It was cool to see them all again out on the west coast and the theatre had a pretty nice green room so we could chat.
most thumbs down are from the poor choice of location for the button. On cell phones, the thumbs down is right in the middle where most people use their finger to swipe down.
Doc Watson is the true heading to stay on your life's course if you are a guitar picker. He will not mislead you, and will keep you on the course you need to follow to not be lead astray.
@@justmeandthethree I think of Doc's music as being "pure" in the sense that it reflects his sincerity; genuine, unpretentious, without being over-produced. Like you were sitting with him on his back porch, listening, watching the sunset on the mountains.
I had the pleasure of seeing Doc and Merle in the mid ‘70s at the Main Point in Bryn Mawr, PA. I feel privileged to have seen such a national treasure.
I was at that concert. The Main Point was an amazing place. That was the height of the Bluegrass Revival. I took my son to see Doc thirty years later at Lincoln Center at an outdoor concert at the end of summer. I told him he was about to see a legend. I was right. A perfect evening.
The Main Point was a great venue! I saw Doc there several times as well as Jim Croce and the original Country Gentlemen. My band and I played on stage during a jam. Wonderful memories.
One of the real quality stamps for me is that the live versions of these songs here sound better than their respective recordings. I mean, obviously the overall sound in this live clip isn't as clear and defined due to various reasons, like poor sample rate, but it still has that warm aura around it due to it originating from tape. Not to mention how flawless the playing and singing is. Technical brilliance is only part of it. It sounds super cliché but they really capture the spirit of whatever song they're performing.
A pure genius was Doc Watson. He inspired so many, including greats like Clarence White, Tony Rice, Steve Kaufman, Dan Crary ... he will be missed by so many.
I had the great fortune of attending a guitar workshop with Doc at the Troy Music Hall in upstate NY in the late 90's. It was a great experience and was wonderful to meet Doc and actually get a chance to play with him.
The One & the Only. It's like the entire room is plugged into Doc The silence/stillness during his plainly presented phrasing that is so rich. An original in many ways. RIP
So much material for me to learn from Doc Watson and his band. This music is incredible and his phrasing is fantastic. I spend hours rewinding to try to learn just a little here and there. Outstanding.
Saw him in that year in Ottawa, and shook the hand of the man who played and sang with great heart.Only thing missing was Merle, who was not on this trip.
The first time I heard Lonesome Road was at a Billy Strings concert two ago in Hoxeyville Michigan. It has been burned forever in my mind ever since. When I found Doc’s original version on you tube and heard it for the first time it sent shivers up my spine.
Jimmie. Mr. Driftwood. Doc. Clearance. Tony. Billy. The evolution of it all. A body needs to enjoy it all. I don't sport the thought that one person is better than the other. BUT. By God. Clarence White was, is, and will always be the greatest guitar play that ever lived. BAR NONE.
I so wished that Doc could have seen his family and all the people that came to see him and how much they adored him. His voice was still good in his last days. RIP Doc and Merle. All fantastic musicians.
Sure love to see that concert with Doc, Merle, David Bromberg, Mark O’Connor, and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, maybe others, probably taped in 1984, it was rockabilly music, update I just saw a little bit of it on here.
I remember those happy gatherings that we had round the fireside long ago, And I can’t forget that tearful parting when she had to leave us here below Only version I’ve found with these beautiful lyrics! Love you guys!
I feel so had for any parent that has to bury their own son or daughter. It’s obvious that Doc was having the absolute time of his life performing with Merle.
Been meaning to delve into Doc Watson. Billy Strings definitely led me here. Love that kid, honoring tradition. Billy is right, bluegrass is just good for your heart and soul. 🤍🎶
I had the pleasure of seeing him a few times. With his son too. The last time I remember was at the Great Northern Bluegrass Festival in Crandon Wisconsin. I think that the time of seeing great music like this is over.
Iconic. Wonder where it was? I got to see Doc and Merle up close and personal back in the mid-70's at Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz. Once-in-a-lifetime ~
They came out west for sure. Although I had opened for Doc in Florida 1976, I later opened for them down the coast from you in Encinitas, CA 1978 at the La Paloma Theatre.
That wasn't bluegrass. It was a then-contemporary folk song played in an updated fingerpicking style of old-timey country music. Bluegrass is a very specific subgenre of "country music" developed in the 1920s/30s. They took old-timey country/folk songs (both lyrics and musical chord progressions) and played them to a new type of highly syncopated music influenced by swing elements discovered in African-American jazz. While a bluegrass song can be played by a solo artist, true bluegrass music is nearly always played by an ensemble -- a basic ensemble being a flat-picked rhythm guitar, a 5-string banjo, a fiddle, and a standup bass. Mandolin quickly became an almost constant addition to the basic ensemble. In the past 20 years, dobro is often included. Bluegrass uses the arpeggio-based Earl Scruggs style of banjo-picking developed in the 1930s rather than the old-timey clawhammer/frailing style of banjo-playing. And no drums. Never drums. The highly percussive, beat-driven, toe-tapping, danceable nature of bluegrass comes from the standup base, the alternating bass strings on the rhythm guitar and the rhythmic mandolin strums (when not picking lead) and Scruggs-style banjo, when both strummed and picked. Bluegrass is also marked by two other conventions. Stacked three-part (sometimes four-part) harmony singing with the lead singer usually vocally sandwiched between a tenor harmonizer and a baritone harmonizer. Because bluegrass musicians cross over into more mainline country at times, bluegrass-trained singers such as Patty Loveless and Allison Krauss tend to be the best harmonizers when harmony singing is added to straight country music. Because bluegrass singing is very much about singing harmony. Vince Gill cut his teenage musical teeth playing bluegrass and quasi-bluegrass where he sang either lead or high harmony. Instrumentally, in a true bluegrass presentation, each sung verse of the song is followed by a purely instrumental verse. Each time the instrumental interlude comes up, a different band instrument plays the lead melody while the others play backing chords and rhythm. In no particular order, it may be banjo first time, fiddle next, then mandolin, then the flat-picked rhythm guitarist picks out the lead melody that usually is sung. The standup bass almost never picks lead during an instrumental break. Old-timey music is the primary source catalogue of traditional bluegrass music, and that music comes from old Scottish, English and Irish folk tunes that migrated to the colonies with the Scotch-Irish settlers in the 1700s. So essentially old-timey music is just traditional American folk music -- which had its forms and some of its songs borrowed by the latter political neo-folk of Pete Seeger, Joan Baez and early Bob Dylan (late 1950s-early 1970s). Newgrass and progressive bluegrass still use the basic instruments, but experiment with even more jazz and even classical elements. The lyrics may not be the traditional topics of daily living. And sometimes it is just instrumental music. One thing about bluegrass music is that technical musicianship is highly esteemed. Although the lyrics and chord progressions are relatively simple, the technical demands are musicians are very high. While bluegrass often includes slower, old-timey ballads, most of the music is up-tempo. The extraordinary speed and elaborate fingering with which instruments are played is astounding. Sometimes with incredibly faithful precision to the notes of a specific song version and sometimes with brilliant jazz-like improvisations. Both old-timey and bluegrass players oftencollaborate on songs. In fact, most traditional bluegrass players also play straight-up old-timey songs. Ricky Skaggs and Tony Rice have done it throughout their long careers. I have seen Doc Watson play with bluegrass musicians, but he is not really a bluegrass man. He really is an old-timey folk musician who developed and perfected a 20th-century style of folk fingerpicking. Indeed, Doc named his son Merle after the legendary old-timey/early country guitarist and singer Merle Travis, who developed Travis-picking, a style of fingerpicking now commonly used in mainstream country music and all types of traditional and neo-folk music.
This was the lineup I saw later in NYC's Bottom Line. Riders in the Sky opened. Great night except my spouse continuously railing on how cute Coleman was. We're divorced but I have my Doc Watson recordings.
I still get choked up when I hear him play. Merle to soon and Doc while not young..... still. I was truly lucky in that I was able to see him several times over the years. He and David Holt . I think David is carrying the music and stories forward. But no one is Doc
Anyone here because of Doc Watson.
Yep. Been a fan for years.
Billy opened a lot of eyes to this kind of music. Myself included!
36 year old Mexican American and I’m loving this shit!!! God damn this is good
I love Billy strings but I heard of Doc Watson Way For Billy but I love the way Billy does Doc Watson music
I discovered Doc Watson, Merle, and Mr. Coleman in 1979 at a performance in Knoxville, TN. It was the best three dollars I ever spent.
Three bucks. Which probably seemed like a lot of money at the time. The evils of inflation. You sure as heck got your money's worth that night!
I called Doc a legend and he just shook his head no. He said, I'm not a legend. I'm just a country boy who likes to pick the guitar...just like you.
He was a true gentleman. Very humble and common. Thanks for the autograph Doc and Richard.
Rest in Peace Doc, Merle and Richard.
Mike Pardue ✌
always a legend!!
"I don't want nobody putting me on a pedestal when I leave here. I'm just one of the people ... just me...." - Arthel Lane Watson
I dont mean to be offtopic but does anyone know of a tool to get back into an instagram account..?
I was dumb forgot the account password. I love any assistance you can offer me
@Cyrus Noe thanks for your reply. I found the site on google and im trying it out now.
I see it takes a while so I will reply here later with my results.
Isn't Richard still kicking
I been a fan of doc merle and michael for many years before billy, but i am so glad billy is bringing attention to doc and the boys, they are musical master’s👍👍
“Brought nothing with me into this ol’ world and I’ll take nothing to my grave.”
Bluegrass is like prophecy.
Literally lol
Wow I read this quote at the exact moment he happened to sing it. I love synchronicities like that.
Hopefully they take their talent at the very least.
1978 was about the first time I ever attended a Doc Watson concert at the old Birchmere in Alexandria VA. I'll never forget it, he was performing "Smoke that Cigarette" when I walked in the front door. I'll have to apologize to the other patrons in the audience because I know my jaw was dropped wide open for the whole show.
Here from Billy, im so glad i checked this out
I wish everyone could appreciate the talent on that stage. The world was a better place when they were still with us. God bless them always. They will always be missed & treasured. 🇺🇸🎵🎶🎸🤗🌹🌹
Absolutely.
+++!++à
I totaly agree with you 🎶🇸🇪👍
I agree!
I Love this music in the service me and a friend 2 Latinos from New Mexico when we finally touch base few years after discharge we where talking he asked how did I like the service I said at times it was ruff did you meet some cool people we both almost at the same time them southern boys Virginia North Carolina Kentucky Tennessee Georgia ,them country Boys they where the best people I have ever met we both agreed there like us country down to earth we where like in total agreement they were good guys back you up treat us with respect welcomed us and we welcomed them .God Bless these people from the land of fast guitar picking with a story to tell...RocknRollFlat5
I first saw Doc and Merle in 1967. They played in the cafeteria at UCLA, and all the guitarists in the dorm started playing his songs. 😊
I saw Doc & Merle some time in the 1970s at Stanford. He was the opening act for Gordon LIghtfoot. Doc tore it up. He had the entire stadium eating out of his hands. Then came Lightfoot, who stunk it up. Lightfoot would sing one song, then go on to the next without saying a word to the audience. After a while, the audience began shouting at him "say something!!!!" Because you see, Doc talked to the audience like he was your favorite uncle. He spoke directly to you, and you responded in kind. To have Lightfoot up there with silence between numbers was a massive letdown. Soon the crowd started yelling "bring back Doc!!!" That was my introduction to Doc Watson, and I became a fan from that moment on.
Are you kidding!? Im here because of doc watson and SO IS BILLY STRINGS!!!
Absolutely
Billy is introducing an entire new audience to this kind of music. I am here because of Billy Strings.
Maybe not so much introducing but enticing folks to really hear it and want to hear more and / or learn Billy's roots...
Hear it and feel it.
This was right around the time Doc was doing the early 'Bluegrass Festival' circuit, and I got to see him, The Country Gentlemen, Del McCoury, and many others at Halifax, Pa. in 1978. Good times and great people!!😉🎵🎶
We ARE so lucky to still have Doc's music.
God bless you Doc and Merle.👍
Doc is my guitar hero
I love Blue Grass. Doc one of the best.
What an incredible set list!
Im also a Doc Watson fan, Arthel is so smooth with it
100 years from now, people will still have an ear for this kind of music. There is something raw and real about this that human beings will always relate to. As a musician and 58 I am late to the Doc Watson party, but am here now, via Billy Strings. Great stuff!
What a beautiful voice he has
Holy smokes
I never knew who Doc Watson was, until Billy Strings. I am sure glad that I know him
Dave Wilson ---Doc was a Carolina treasure that we miss dearly and his music never stopped.
Micheal Coleman - paved the way for the rest us electric bass players to play bluegrass without gettin tarred and feathered!
I opened for Doc & Merle, with T. Michael Coleman on Bass in 1976 in Bradenton, Florida. I was a guest (I am a pro harmonica player 48 years and started in Bluegrass Bands in FL as a kid) with a family band called "The Poindexters". They can be seen on the back jacket of the LP, first solo album by Dickie Betts (Allman Bros) called "Highway Call". We were the opening act and they had drums although played quite a few Bluegrass tunes. I remember though talking to T. Michael Coleman....my first time seeing a fretless electric bass, especially playing Bluegrass! I also opened for them again in 1978 in Southern California at a theatre, again I was in the opening trio, me on harp and a male/female folk duo. It was cool to see them all again out on the west coast and the theatre had a pretty nice green room so we could chat.
Did you see the look on the faces of the audience when Doc was solo? They knew who Doc was and loved him dearly. Rest in peace Doc. 🌹🤗🎸🎶🎵🇺🇸
28 people hit the thumbs downs? Bless your heart.
Makes no sense to me why anyone would give this heavenly music a thumbs down. Doc Watson was the best!
Yeah really
most thumbs down are from the poor choice of location for the button. On cell phones, the thumbs down is right in the middle where most people use their finger to swipe down.
Forever in my heart and in my ears! LOVE TO DOC AND MERLE!
Doc ,A gift from god.
I saw Doc in Paris in 76 or 77, whaouh!!!!! América as we love!!! Greetings from France....
For me is a real discovery this group. Wow!
That picking starting at 8:04 just blows my mind! Whew!
Doc was a national treasure.
fabuleux!
j'ai vu doc et merle en concert en france dans les années 1980
Damn thats good music!!
Merle really at the top of his game here.
Doc is a straight up legend and all the other musicians are wonderful but hot damn Merle is a hell of a picker!!
DOc was a mystic - a real saint of his time and culture
i saw him in Missoula MT with Merle in the 70s❤❤
Doc Watson is the true heading to stay on your life's course if you are a guitar picker. He will not mislead you, and will keep you on the course you need to follow to not be lead astray.
Thanks Doc! and thanks Billy for keeping this wonderful music continue. God bless
Doc Watson was fabulous!
Doc exposed us to a pure music, the music of the people
What is "pure music?"
@@justmeandthethree
?
@@scottmyatt5737 Did you leave out the sentence?
@@justmeandthethree
I think of Doc's music as being "pure" in the sense that it reflects his sincerity; genuine, unpretentious, without being over-produced. Like you were sitting with him on his back porch, listening, watching the sunset on the mountains.
I had the pleasure of seeing Doc and Merle in the mid ‘70s at the Main Point in Bryn Mawr, PA. I feel privileged to have seen such a national treasure.
I remember The Main Point in PA! I saw John Hartford like when I was 16!
I was at that concert. The Main Point was an amazing place. That was the height of the Bluegrass Revival. I took my son to see Doc thirty years later at Lincoln Center at an outdoor concert at the end of summer. I told him he was about to see a legend. I was right. A perfect evening.
The Main Point was a great venue! I saw Doc there several times as well as Jim Croce and the original Country Gentlemen. My band and I played on stage during a jam. Wonderful memories.
Love those bending Blue Notes.
Gershwin wrote a great tune.
Terrific Concert.
I wish I could have been at this concert....
I fell down a billy strings rabbit hole 🕳. Now I’m here
One of the real quality stamps for me is that the live versions of these songs here sound better than their respective recordings. I mean, obviously the overall sound in this live clip isn't as clear and defined due to various reasons, like poor sample rate, but it still has that warm aura around it due to it originating from tape. Not to mention how flawless the playing and singing is. Technical brilliance is only part of it. It sounds super cliché but they really capture the spirit of whatever song they're performing.
I love the foot tapping... especially Merle's both feet going! RIP!
These guys are fretboard ninjas, thats some pickin!
Saw Doc that year in Atlanta. Great American Music Hall. Doc, Merle, same bass player and a banjo player. First time I saw a fretless electric bass.
man ,he was one of the best
Shew; that rendition of Summertime. Awesome. Miss ol Doc!
Doc, Merle, and the Carlton family; all very kind and loving , the greatest people, the kind of people that everyone should try to emulate!
A pure genius was Doc Watson. He inspired so many, including greats like Clarence White, Tony Rice, Steve Kaufman, Dan Crary ... he will be missed by so many.
I had the great fortune of attending a guitar workshop with Doc at the Troy Music Hall in upstate NY in the late 90's. It was a great experience and was wonderful to meet Doc and actually get a chance to play with him.
Those were the days...
The One & the Only. It's like the entire room is plugged into Doc The silence/stillness during his plainly presented phrasing that is so rich. An original in many ways. RIP
Doc was the Man 🎼🎼🎼
He still is
@@dickwhatley2090 I agree, as long as we can still listen he'll always be the man.
This is the MAN
Fantastic! Thank you
Over dinner after a show T. Michael Coleman showed me how to hang a spoon on my nose. Thanks T. Michael.
Pretty good bass player too.
Yeah, they both have to be clean and oil free.
So much material for me to learn from Doc Watson and his band. This music is incredible and his phrasing is fantastic. I spend hours rewinding to try to learn just a little here and there. Outstanding.
Happy birthday, doc. Our family loves you!
Saw him in that year in Ottawa, and shook the hand of the man who played and sang with great heart.Only thing missing was Merle, who was not on this trip.
Best version of Summertime. Never heard better
I agree!
Doc's voice owns this song. It's magic.
You haven't heard mine.
Here's Doc 😃 Beautiful
Whew! Been going through a rough breakup and that version of Lonesome Road had me bawling but it felt so good at the same time.
The first time I heard Lonesome Road was at a Billy Strings concert two ago in Hoxeyville Michigan. It has been burned forever in my mind ever since. When I found Doc’s original version on you tube and heard it for the first time it sent shivers up my spine.
Jimmie. Mr. Driftwood. Doc. Clearance. Tony. Billy. The evolution of it all. A body needs to enjoy it all. I don't sport the thought that one person is better than the other. BUT. By God. Clarence White was, is, and will always be the greatest guitar play that ever lived. BAR NONE.
I’ve been knowing this song for over 60 years, and I’m a central IL flat lander !
@@ColtHLantz innovator!
I have been a Doc Watson fan since, he played at The Newport folk festival
Doc was one of the best!
National treasure
Shawn Robinson is my best friend. Sent me this tune Late at night!. Love him the most!
The thumbnail on this vid is CLASSIC!
I so wished that Doc could have seen his family and all the people that came to see him and how much they adored him. His voice was still good in his last days. RIP Doc and Merle. All fantastic musicians.
Oh ? Bet he did see all his people, Doc was a good God praying man! 20/20 vision varies... Thanks for Doc Watson's , we're all related!!
Shore do miss him and Merle, too, hope the rest of the guys are doin' ok.
I have never seen fingers move across a set of strings so fast.
Totaly good music. Thanx Doc!
33 of those dislikes don't understand good music
They didn't listen.
This is pure magic!
I honestly think Doc was pickin in the womb before he was born.
The very year I left my country home !
wow...the harmony...wish I was there
Saw him in a small bar in Roswell Ga just a few feet from the stage he was the best
Lots of us, Docs the greatest x
Sure love to see that concert with Doc, Merle, David Bromberg, Mark O’Connor, and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, maybe others, probably taped in 1984, it was rockabilly music, update I just saw a little bit of it on here.
I remember those happy gatherings that we had round the fireside long ago,
And I can’t forget that tearful parting when she had to leave us here below
Only version I’ve found with these beautiful lyrics! Love you guys!
Thanks for sharing,Mancubus...mighty fine
What an awesome performance. Thanks for posting!
Wonderful concert!
I feel so had for any parent that has to bury their own son or daughter. It’s obvious that Doc was having the absolute time of his life performing with Merle.
Yup!
Been meaning to delve into Doc Watson. Billy Strings definitely led me here. Love that kid, honoring tradition. Billy is right, bluegrass is just good for your heart and soul. 🤍🎶
I had the pleasure of seeing him a few times. With his son too. The last time I remember was at the Great Northern Bluegrass Festival in Crandon Wisconsin.
I think that the time of seeing great music like this is over.
Billy strings
Iconic. Wonder where it was? I got to see Doc and Merle up close and personal back in the mid-70's at Kuumbwa Jazz Center in Santa Cruz. Once-in-a-lifetime ~
They came out west for sure. Although I had opened for Doc in Florida 1976, I later opened for them down the coast from you in Encinitas, CA 1978 at the La Paloma Theatre.
Amazing, Thank you
Man, I love bluegrass
That wasn't bluegrass. It was a then-contemporary folk song played in an updated fingerpicking style of old-timey country music.
Bluegrass is a very specific subgenre of "country music" developed in the 1920s/30s. They took old-timey country/folk songs (both lyrics and musical chord progressions) and played them to a new type of highly syncopated music influenced by swing elements discovered in African-American jazz. While a bluegrass song can be played by a solo artist, true bluegrass music is nearly always played by an ensemble -- a basic ensemble being a flat-picked rhythm guitar, a 5-string banjo, a fiddle, and a standup bass. Mandolin quickly became an almost constant addition to the basic ensemble. In the past 20 years, dobro is often included. Bluegrass uses the arpeggio-based Earl Scruggs style of banjo-picking developed in the 1930s rather than the old-timey clawhammer/frailing style of banjo-playing. And no drums. Never drums. The highly percussive, beat-driven, toe-tapping, danceable nature of bluegrass comes from the standup base, the alternating bass strings on the rhythm guitar and the rhythmic mandolin strums (when not picking lead) and Scruggs-style banjo, when both strummed and picked.
Bluegrass is also marked by two other conventions. Stacked three-part (sometimes four-part) harmony singing with the lead singer usually vocally sandwiched between a tenor harmonizer and a baritone harmonizer. Because bluegrass musicians cross over into more mainline country at times, bluegrass-trained singers such as Patty Loveless and Allison Krauss tend to be the best harmonizers when harmony singing is added to straight country music. Because bluegrass singing is very much about singing harmony. Vince Gill cut his teenage musical teeth playing bluegrass and quasi-bluegrass where he sang either lead or high harmony.
Instrumentally, in a true bluegrass presentation, each sung verse of the song is followed by a purely instrumental verse. Each time the instrumental interlude comes up, a different band instrument plays the lead melody while the others play backing chords and rhythm. In no particular order, it may be banjo first time, fiddle next, then mandolin, then the flat-picked rhythm guitarist picks out the lead melody that usually is sung. The standup bass almost never picks lead during an instrumental break.
Old-timey music is the primary source catalogue of traditional bluegrass music, and that music comes from old Scottish, English and Irish folk tunes that migrated to the colonies with the Scotch-Irish settlers in the 1700s. So essentially old-timey music is just traditional American folk music -- which had its forms and some of its songs borrowed by the latter political neo-folk of Pete Seeger, Joan Baez and early Bob Dylan (late 1950s-early 1970s).
Newgrass and progressive bluegrass still use the basic instruments, but experiment with even more jazz and even classical elements. The lyrics may not be the traditional topics of daily living. And sometimes it is just instrumental music.
One thing about bluegrass music is that technical musicianship is highly esteemed. Although the lyrics and chord progressions are relatively simple, the technical demands are musicians are very high. While bluegrass often includes slower, old-timey ballads, most of the music is up-tempo. The extraordinary speed and elaborate fingering with which instruments are played is astounding. Sometimes with incredibly faithful precision to the notes of a specific song version and sometimes with brilliant jazz-like improvisations.
Both old-timey and bluegrass players oftencollaborate on songs. In fact, most traditional bluegrass players also play straight-up old-timey songs. Ricky Skaggs and Tony Rice have done it throughout their long careers. I have seen Doc Watson play with bluegrass musicians, but he is not really a bluegrass man. He really is an old-timey folk musician who developed and perfected a 20th-century style of folk fingerpicking. Indeed, Doc named his son Merle after the legendary old-timey/early country guitarist and singer Merle Travis, who developed Travis-picking, a style of fingerpicking now commonly used in mainstream country music and all types of traditional and neo-folk music.
@@ScotchIrishTarheel bluegrass came about circa 1947.
Thanks
This was the lineup I saw later in NYC's Bottom Line. Riders in the Sky opened. Great night except my spouse continuously railing on how cute Coleman was. We're divorced but I have my Doc Watson recordings.
Best guitar player ever........................
I still get choked up when I hear him play. Merle to soon and Doc while not young..... still.
I was truly lucky in that I was able to see him several times over the years. He and David Holt . I think David is carrying the music and stories forward. But no one is Doc
Yeeee Haaaa !