Doc Watson Biography

Guitarist / Country Musician

Name at birth: Arthel Lane Watson

Arthel "Doc" Watson grew up listening and playing traditional folk and bluegrass music on the family farm in North Carolina. Blind since infancy, Doc Watson began playing guitar for money in the 1950s, starting out playing the electric guitar in a small local band. With the folk music revival of the 1960s, Doc moved to acoustic guitar (and harmonica) and recorded original and traditional tunes, quickly earning a reputation as one of the best flat-pickers in the business. He recorded several records with his son, Merle (born in 1943 and killed in 1985 in a tractor accident), winning Grammy awards for the 1973 recording Two Days in November. Doc Watson's influence on country and bluegrass music is widely acknowledged, as is his encyclopedic knowledge of traditional folk tunes.

Extra credit: Watson shares a name with Dr. Watson, the famous fictional sidekick of Sherlock Holmes.

What do Doc Watson and Dr. Dre have in common? They both appear in our loop Famous "Doctors"... Other folk and blues musicians include Bob Dylan, W.C. Handy, Big Mama Thornton and Dar Williams.