Songs Doc Didn't Sing

Arthel ‘Doc’ Watson, the legendary guitarist and singer-songwriter from Deep Gap, North Carolina, possessed a uniquely compelling vocal instrument. Smoky and smooth, tinged with the deep, dark coolness of a Blue Ridge mountain holler, dialectically distinguished by the rolling cadence of the Piedmont region, Doc Watson's singing and speaking voice held the power to entrance anyone within earshot. Regardless, all praise is due FLi Records' Mitch Greenhill for compiling the 15 tracks on Songs Doc Didn't Sing, originally released by Flying Fish in the early to mid-1980s.

Again, we get to marvel at the telepathic acuity of Doc and his son, Merle, who tragically died in a farm accident in 1985. We get to revisit the superlative accompaniment of fiddlers Mark O'Connor, Sam Bush and Byron Berline, clarinettist Tom Scott, drummer Ron Tutt, and bassist T Michael Coleman. O'Connor's blistering fiddle solo on ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’ is almost worth the price of admission alone. Then there's Merle's steely slick slide work on ‘Talking to Casey’ and the blues medley, ‘John Henry/Worried Blues’, and the Watsons' deftly swinging chops on ‘Below Freezing’ and ‘Liza/Lady Be Good’. Without hardly uttering a word, Songs Doc Didn't Sing highlights a facet of the Watson oeuvre not always given due consideration.