Doc Watson and the Watson Family
The Watson family of Watauga County has included some of the state's most extraordinary traditional artists. Among them have been string band musicians, singers, song leaders, songwriters, dancers, quilters, woodcarvers and storytellers. They have brought national and international attention to North Carolina's traditional culture.
Through numerous sound recordings and public performances, Doc Watson has become one of North Carolina's best known musicians. His work as a virtuoso guitarist and singer is legendary. His wife Rosa Lee, the daughter of old-time fiddler Gaither Carlton, has been an important musical partner. She is an accomplished singer and guitarist who has co-authored with Doc several beautiful love songs that the couple recorded as duets. In addition, she taught and encouraged their son Merle, who became an outstanding guitarist and banjo player in his own right. MerleFest, an annual memorial event featuring traditional and tradition-inspired music at Wilkesboro Community College, continues to draw huge crowds.
Among the numerous honors and awards Doc Watson has received are a 1994 North Carolina Heritage Award, the 1986 North Carolina Governor's Award, 1988 National Heritage Fellowship Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1997. Also, in 1997, he received the National Medal of Arts from then-President Bill Clinton.
Other members of the family have carried on equally rich traditions. Arnold Watson and R. J. Watson, brothers of Doc, were excellent musicians. Arnold, an accomplished singer and banjo player, toured and recorded with Doc in the 1960s. Noted for his finger-and-thumb picking style, he played with local string bands for dances and other social events in homes and community settings such as Simms Store in Triplett and the Mountain Branch Campground.
As a song leader at Mount Paran Baptist Church in Deep Gap, R. J. continued a family tradition practiced by his father, General Watson. With a clear, honest voice, he led the congregation through "Amazing Grace" and many other old hymns that held deep meaning for members of the church. Among the three brothers—Arnold, R. J., and Doc—were special examples of the excellences and influences of Southern music: Arnold's old-time banjo tunes, R. J.'s moving sacred song, and "Doc's" striking amalgamation of sacred and secular, African American and Anglo-American, family and commercial, folk and classical music.
Willard Watson—a first cousin to Doc, Arnold, and R. J.—and his wife Ora distinguished themselves in numerous ways. Willard was widely known as a flatfoot dancer, storyteller, banjo player, and especially a woodcarver. By his own estimation, he was a man that "can't hardly be whipped by a piece of wood." His contraptions celebrated his rich imagination and close-to- the-earth values, as well as his delightful sense of play. Ora, an expert quilter, developed a personal style notable for its mastery of traditional patterns and use of striking color combinations. Ora's quilts have attracted attention from museums and collectors throughout the state and beyond. Willard and Ora were favorites at the Festival of American Folklife in Washington, and examples of their work are part of the collections of the Smithsonian Institution.