Doc Watson

I’m not really up on blues and country music, but I heard an interview with Doc Watson on NPR yesterday, and he played some songs too. I was astounded. I’ve just never heard anyone play guitar like that. He’s an old man now, and he first learned to play on a fretless banjo that his father made for him in the 1930s. I can’t imagine how challenging it would be to learn to play your first instrument when it’s fretless and you’re blind.

The funny thing is, the same day I heard the interview, my brother John gave me a CD-R he put together for me, and the first 4 tracks were Doc Watson songs.

Whatever your taste in music, I highly recommend you give a listen: Here’s the interview, along with some tracks, and here’s a good Doc Watson web site. He’s playing at the Newport Folk Festival this summer. I’ll have to make a point of heading home that weekend!