7/5/2023 0 Comments Fresh air doc watson![]() ![]() Earle’s jaunty flatpicking, which cross the border between jazz and bluegrass, and his gruff vocals capture the essence of Doc Watson. This version-one of the highlights on the album-captures the soul-heaviness and longing that accompany earthly life as it wends its way toward the promise of a new life after death.Ĭlose your eyes when listening to Steve Earle’s interpretation of “Make Me a Pallet,” and for a moment you just might think you’re hearing Watson again. Over the strains of James Shipp’s harmonium and Stephanie Coleman’s achingly mournful fiddle notes, Nora Brown delivers a haunting rendition of the Charles Wesley hymn “Am I Born to Die.” Brown’s high lonesome vocals convey the weariness, loneliness, and hope in the song. Like Watson, Douglas creates a spacious sonic atmosphere in which the musical notes dash and dart around one another in a yearning rhythmic swirl. Jerry Douglas weaves layers of shimmering sonic beauty on his resonator guitar on the opening track, an instrumental version of “Shady Grove.” The tune unfurls slowly, almost tenderly, as Douglas creates a honeyed melodic forest of sound that evokes the dappled light and shadow of the grove of the title. He played with so much clarity.” One of the essential features of I Am a Pilgrim is the sparkling clarity each artist allows to shine on each tune or song. According to Eldridge, “there’s something about the drive and the life force that existed in all of his playing. Watson inhabited every song or tune he ever played, making it his own with his characteristic vocal delivery and most all with his never-miss-a-note guitar playing. As Jack Lawrence, who played as Watson’s second guitarist for 27 years, observes “Doc really hated being called a bluegrass act-he did so many other things, from pop standards to rockabilly.” The 15 songs and tunes on the album illustrate the depth of Watson’s influence on American music. I Am a Pilgrim: Doc Watson at 100 brings together a diverse group of guitarists-from slide guitarist Ariel Posen and bluesman Corey Harris to jazz guitarist Bill Frisell and lap tapping guitarist Yasmin Williams-playing styles from across the musical landscape. What more fitting tribute to Watson and his legacy than to release a tribute album on this Friday, April 28, at MerleFest, which Watson founded in 1988 to honor his son, Merle, who died in a car accident in 1985. His smooth, crisp, and clear finger-picking style influenced generations of flatpickers from Clarence White down to Billy Strings. After finding his way to a Thailand refugee camp he was adopted by an American relief worker, Peter Pond, and brought to the U.S.Doc Watson, “one of the treasures of American music” says Mighty Poplar and Punch Brothers guitarist Chris Eldridge, would have turned 100 this year, on March 3, 2023. After seeing his friends die, he fled into the jungle and survived mimicking the eating habits of monkeys. At age 14, Chorn-Pond was forced into the Khmer Rouge army to fight the invading Vietnamese. He was taught to play the flute to play propaganda songs, which helped assure his survival. ![]() As a child, Chorn-Pond was held in a Khmer Rouge labor camp where many children starved to death, many others were murdered, and those who survived were forced to work from 5 am to midnight. Arn Chorn-Pond is the subject of the new documentary The Flute Player. His first number one single was "Crying My Heart Out Over You" in 1981, and he continued to have a string of hits throughout the eighties. Skaggs started performing as a young child and was considered a prodigy. Ricky Skaggs has a new album out called The Three Pickers, and it features Skaggs playing along with Earl Scruggs and Doc Watson. ![]() Country and bluegrass musician Ricky Skaggs and Khmer Rouge survivor Arn Chorn-Pond on this edition of Fresh Air.
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