Doc Watson "Milk Cow Blues"

When Doc Watson passed away, I thought of this story, but it didn't seem like the right one to tell as an obituary-type post, so I saved it for later/today . . .

I was headed somewhere with Jane.  Honestly, I can't remember where.

We were at Merlefest, covering the festival for the station.  And because Merlefest has 14 stages, spread out around the campus of Wilkesboro Community College, when you cover Merlefest, you spend a ton of time briskly walking back and forth, from the stages to our broadcast booth to the tents to the truck to the . . .

You quickly learn the shortcuts.  And if you want to get from one side of the Main Stage to the other, you could walk wide, all the way around the crowd.  Or you could walk behind the stage on a service road that wound behind.  Or, there is a narrow hallway, like a little artery, that tunnels through the heart of the building that houses the main stage.  To get from one side to the other, you can shoot right through that.

Jane and I were on our way . . . wherever, zipping through this empty hall when suddenly from the left, a door that I'd never seen open, opened.

Out, coming from the stage area, popped a small gaggle of folks.  Had we be been a half-a-step faster, we would have bumped right into them.

Jane gasped, then turned to me and said, in a stage-whisper with hand gestures, "It's Doc Watson!"  One of the people in the group half-looked at us and gave a quick smile.

We continued down the hallway, following Doc and his guide and friends, back out into the daylight of the other side of the stage.

Doc's group led him to a car, and Jane and I continued our forward trajectory.

When we were safely out of range where the group could possibly hear us (unlike when we were in the hallway), I looked at Jane and said, "You realize he's blind, not deaf, right?"


Tonight on mvyradio we are airing "The Best Of Doc Watson At Merlefest" featuring portions of several different sets we recorded at Merlefest over the years.  Stream it at 9pm ET on mvyradio.



Hear the song on Youtube.