March 7, 2008Concert review: Doc Watson, Peter Rowan and Tony Rice QuartetHere's the deadwood review, which is online now. As always, it's hard to write everything you want in a 12-column inch space, so here's more: Watson, as long as he's been playing and as well as he is received, is still humble about his guitar playing. Introducing Merle Travis' "Nine Pound Hammer," he said he never tried to imitate Travis. "I'm not versed at all those big ol', six-finger chords that him and Chet (Atkins) played," he said. "I never could find them somehow." Then he proceeded to roll through complicated fingerpicking that most of us will never be able to duplicate. And yes, he blew a note here and there, but the man is 85. Watson is one of the rare people who was around to hear songs from "The Bristol Sessions" before they were ever called "the big bang of country music." He introduced "In The Pines," as done by Claude Grant and the Tenneva Ramblers during those recordings -- but without the banjo and mandolin, because "Richard and I can't imitate that band, because we don't have a banjo or mandolin," Watson said. He told the crowd of 933 that he thought of the show as just a picking session, as if it were at his own house. "Of course, we couldn't fit all of you in there," he said. His show also included "St. James Infirmary," which he remembered hearing on the radio in his childhood. Grandson Richard Watson left the stage, and Jack Lawrence took over. I've seen Watson three times, always with his grandson and with Lawrence, and I'm always blown away by Lawrence's technique, taste and ability to complement whatever Watson is doing. While Richard Watson is a good-enough player, the buzz just picks up when Lawrence is on with Doc. Lawrence lets you know what he likes -- the Dillards and Grandpa Jones -- and he told a great cornpone story about Jones, once a cast member on "Hee Haw." Jones was working in his yard one day when a nice car pulled up. A well-dressed woman looked out the window and asked how much the lady of the house paid him for his work. "He told her, 'Well, you know she doesn't pay me anything, but I do sleep with her,'" Lawrence said. Watson can tell a story, too. He remembered when he was "18, young and stupid," and fell hard for a woman who he thought presented "a wonderful image of a beautiful virgin girl." A friend of his corrected that notion, but Watson still held a flame for two more years. Then a new family moved in nearby, and he heard a woman's voice say, "Hello, Arthel" (Watson's given name). "And that flame went, pfft!" he said. He was talking about his wife, Rosa Lee Watson. Then he introduced their "courtin' song," "Shady Grove." Rowan and Rice's band finished the evening with some amazingly well-played bluegrass. Among Rowan's many claims to fame is the fact that he was a member of Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys. He was lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the band from 1964 to 1967, according to the bio on his Web site. While Rice got a proper monitor mix, Rowan told of traveling on Monroe's bus, the "Bluegrass Breakdown." It lived up to its name on one trip up U.S. 11, just over the Virginia line from Tennessee, he said. As Rowan stood outside the bus, looking at the mountains, Monroe walked up to him. "'Pete Rowans,' he said -- he called me plural -- 'you listen good to this and you never forget it,'" Rowan told the audience. From there, they wrote "The Walls of Time." Of course, the band then broke into it, with Rice blistering on the fretboard of a guitar that Rowan told the crowd had once belonged to Clarence White. The performance was part of the Jefferson Center's series, "The Blind Leading ... An Exploration of Blindness and Creativity". Previously, The Blind Boys of Alabama played and took part in a pre-show discussion. On April 19, the series will close with an appearance from Henry Butler, a New Orleans jazz pianist. |
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