On This Day 14 Years Ago, We Said Goodbye to the Blind Guitar Genius Whose Flatpicking Skills Inspired Generations

Iconic bluegrass guitarist Doc Watson died on May 29, 2012, at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

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The 89-year-old Watson had fallen at his home eight days earlier. While not seriously injured, doctors realized an underlying medical condition required surgery on his colon. Watson passed away due to complications from the procedure.

Today, we’re taking a look at the illustrious life and career of seven-time Grammy Award winner Doc Watson, whose distinct flatpicking style brought the acoustic guitar to the foreground during the  folk music revival of the 1960s.

Doc Watson Overcame Early Hardship

The sixth of nine children, Arthel Lane “Doc” Watson was born on March 3, 1923, in Deep Gap, North Carolina.

The traditional mountain ballads of his native region shaped Watson’s upbringing, and despite an eye infection left him blind before his second birthday, he learned to play banjo at age 11 on a homemade instrument.

Later, Watson’s father heard him plucking away on a borrowed guitar and promised to buy the boy his own instrument if he could teach himself a song by the end of the day. Watson taught himself the Carter Family’s “When the Roses Bloom in Dixieland,” and his father made good on that promise.

Within months, Watson was performing for tips on local street corners. He grew into a skilled acoustic and electric guitar player, perfecting a flat-picking style never before seen in the genre.

“His flat-picking style has no precedent in earlier country music history,” folklorist Ralph Rinzler, who discovered Watson in 1960, told the New York Times.

Finding Success

In 1953, Doc Watson joined a country dance band, Jack Williams and the Country Gentlemen, teaching himself to play lead on the fiddle.

Seven years later, Rinzler discovered him at a fiddlers’ convention in Union Grove, North Carolina, and was impressed enough to go to Watson’s house and record him with his father-in-law, renowned fiddle player Gaither Carlton.

Doc Watson recorded his self-titled debut album in 1964. That same year, his 15-year-old son, Merle, joined him on rhythm guitar.

[RELATED: Remembering the Late, Great Doc Watson with 3 Standout Songs from His Deep Discography]

Doc and Merle Watson toured together until October 1985, when 36-year-old Merle died in a tractor accident on the family farm.

Doc Watson returned to the road solo a week after his son’s funeral, later helping found an annual music festival in Wilkesboro, N.C., now known as Merlefest.

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