Doc Watson, innovative guitarist and 'positive icon' for Appalachian region

Guitarist Doc Watson, who passed away Tuesday, was widely considered a true American original who deeply influenced every guitarist – folk, jazz, or rock – in the past 50 years. He was lauded not just for his technical skill but his understanding of Appalachian culture and for his model behavior as a humble man.

Nineteen-year-old Arthel Watson got his nickname at a 1942 concert when the emcee couldn’t pronounce his name and a girl in the audience shouted, “Call him Doc!”

Generations of admirers have been calling him names ever since: “Guitar Master,” “Godfather of the Guitar,” and many more.

After seven of his 60 albums won Grammy awards, he was awarded an eighth as a lifetime achievement award in 2004.

"There may not be a serious, committed baby boomer alive who didn't at some point in his or her youth try to spend a few minutes at least trying to learn to pick a guitar like Doc Watson," President Clinton said in 1997 when presenting Mr. Watson with the National Medal of the Arts.

He was the envy of other top banjo and guitar pickers from Earl Scruggs to Lester Flatt. Folk guitarists from Stephen Stills to Joe Walsh, rockers such as Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, and Duane Allman, and jazz/fusion great Stanley Jordan have all praised him to the skies.

“He strongly influenced just about anyone who played acoustic guitar in the last 40 years, especially in bluegrass and country,” says Happy Traum, owner of Homespun Tapes, which sells professional guitar training tapes in Woodstock, New York.

“Before him, guitar was mostly backup in bluegrass and country. His skill was so unique that he completely rewrote the book on what you could do with the guitar. His timing, touch, and tone were so impeccable that no one can say they didn’t learn from him,” says Traum.

Watson’s management company, Folklore Productions, described Watson as "a powerful singer and a tremendously influential picker who virtually invented the art of playing mountain fiddle tunes on the flattop guitar."

Doc Watson was born in Deep Gap, N.C., in 1923. He was given a harmonica by his father when he was a young child, and by 5 he was playing the banjo, according to the website of Merlefest, an annual musical event in Wilkesboro, N.C., named for Watson’s son and fellow musician Merle, with whom he recorded several albums.

He learned a few guitar chords while attending the North Carolina Morehead School for the Blind in Raleigh (he had lost his sight as an infant), and his father helped him buy a Stella guitar for $12.

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