Audio CD review:
Doc & Merle Watson - Pickin' the Blues

Doc & Merle Watson - Pickin' the Blues

Band: Doc & Merle Watson Title: Pickin' the Blues Rating: Release Date: 1992-09-29 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Mississippi Heavy Water Blues - Doc Watson, Barbeque Bob 2: Sittin' Here Pickin' the Blues - Doc Watson, Coleman, T. Michael 3: Stormy Weather - Doc Watson, Arlen, Harold 4: Windy and Warm - Doc Watson, Loudermilk, John D. 5: St. Louis Blues - Doc Watson, Handy, W.C. 6: Jailhouse Blues - Doc Watson, Estes, John 7: Freight Train Blues - Doc Watson, Traditional 8: Carroll County Blues - Doc Watson, Traditional 9: Blue Ridge Mountain Blues - Doc Watson, Traditional 10: I'm a Stranger Here - Doc Watson, Traditional 11: Honey Babe Blues - Doc Watson, Traditional

Could Be the Musical Equivalent of "Comfort Food" .... I have fond memories of this record . . I somehow chanced upon it in the music department library in Charlottesville some fifteen years ago. The sound-world can grow cloying at length, and it is not the sort of thing I could listen to every day . . . but it has a wholesome, feet-on-the-ground quality - while at the same time displaying a fine sense of folksy professionalism - which make it a refreshing break from Other Things. It is a welcome reminder that "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer" is NOT American folk music . . . . The music will largely recommend itself (or not, according to taste), so I comment on just a few selections. Doc Watson's singing is well suited to everything on this album - save "Stormy Weather. " Or I should say instead, that even Doc's plaintive no-nonsense singing seems unable to redeem this song for me. Personal taste; no doubt someone else will like this best of all on the album. "Windy and Warm" is a lovely instrumental number; it leaves you wanting more . . . but perhaps it is as brief as it is, knowing not to wear out its welcome. I grew up playing in high school and community bands, and I knew "St Louis Blues" before hearing this album . . . but here it sounds so right, so "at home," that I wonder that anyone had the nerve to arrange it for band/marching band. "Freight Train Blues" is the same number that Bob Dylan sang on one of HIS early albums - to indescribably different effect. There is a desperation and breathlessness to Dylan's version, which create a definite atmosphere - for some, the "easy" nature of Watson's version will for that reason lack "interest" compared to Dylan's . . . but I enjoy the character of the song better here. You can see a complete list of all Doc & Merle Watson discography, or go back to the Doc & Merle Watson tabs