WATSON: (Singing) I worked in town, and I worked on the farm, but there was no way to suit 'em. Give me back my 15 cents, and I'll go home to mammy. Then that old sound got mad at me and hit me with the poker. I fiddled a tune for her one day, and she called me a joker. WATSON: (Singing) 'Twas 15 cents to the preacher man, and a dollar for the paper. But then we tied that fatal knot, and now I'm gone forever. I loved that gal, and she loved me, and I thought we'd live together. But then I met with a pretty little gal, and soon we played the devil. WATSON: (Singing) I left my home in Tennessee, and I thought I'd learned to travel. (Laughter) I'll let the song tell you the rest of the tale. And he found a pretty little girl and got married and got two for the price of one. Here's a little tune about an old boy that - excuse me - decided he's going to leave home and learn to travel. Make it where your good man will never go. Honey, make it over close behind that door. WATSON: (Singing) Make me down a pallet on your floor. Let's play some country counterpoints, son. Honey, won't you make it down, make it soft and low? And then maybe my good gal, she won't know.
I think I'll turn and try sleeping on my side. The way I've been a'sleeping, my back and shoulder's tired. The way I've been sleeping, my back and shoulder's tired. WATSON: (Singing) The way I've been sleeping, my back and shoulder's tired. Don't you let my good gal catch you here. And don't you let my good gal catch you here. No, baby, I can't lay down across that pretty bed 'cause my good woman, she might kill me dead. Now, honey, I can't lay down on your bed. WATSON: (Singing) Well, you know that I can't lay down on your bed. Told you I was coming so you better look for me. Going to get my breakfast here, my dinner in Tennessee. Get breakfast here, and dinner in Tennessee. Getting my breakfast here, and my dinner in Tennessee. Yes, I'm going up the country through that sleet and snow. Going up the country through that sleet and snow. I'm going up the country through that sleet and snow. (Singing) Make me down a pallet on your floor. A good old tune, called, "Make Me Down A Pallet On Your Floor." I think we'll do one that Merle and I - my son, Merle, and I learned from John Hurt. And, Doc Watson, can I ask you to introduce the first song?ĭOC WATSON: Thank you, Terry. GROSS: I want to welcome both of you to FRESH AIR. He brought with him guitarist Jack Lawrence, who was his longtime music partner. We're going to hear the interview I recorded with Doc Watson in 1988, but we'll start with a couple of songs from the concert he recorded on our show in 1989. Doc Watson died in 2012 at the age of 89. Watson organized an annual music festival in his honor in North Carolina known as MerleFest. In 1985, Merle was killed in a tractor accident. For about 15 years, he toured and performed with his son, Merle. When he was about 1 year old, an eye infection left him blind. Watson was born in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains. His flatpicking style has no precedent in earlier country music. Folklorist Ralph Rinzler, who discovered him, said Watson is singlehandedly responsible for the extraordinary increase in acoustic flatpicking and fingerpicking guitar performance. In his prime, he was considered the finest flatpicker in the U.S.
#Fresh air doc watson archive#
We're going deep in our archive for the show to feature Doc Watson, who was one of America's most revered folk musicians. On this Fourth of July, we're going to hear some great American music.
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