"Watching this video makes you feel like you're Doc Watson's neighbor just down the holler, his longtime friend. The music is simply wonderful, but the best thing is the intimacy, the close-ups, both physically and emotionally."
Winston-Salem Journal

Doc & Merle reaches deep into the relationship between Doc and Merle Watson. It gives an historical overview of their evolution as musicians and explores the special bond between them and the North Carolina mountains they call home. During their 21-year career, the Watsons' mastery of guitar and their unique blend of traditional, bluegrass, country and western, blues and gospel music won them an international audience.

This documentary is a rich mixture of music, informal interviews, old photographs and rare film footage. The wide range of musical influences the Watsons' embraced is clearly shown through concert footage and less formal at-home picking sessions.

Sixteen songs are presented ranging from Black Mountain Rag and Wabash Cannonball to Blue Suede Shoes and Freight Train Blues. Doc is reunited musically with Jack Williams, his partner from the early 1950s, for a rare rockabilly performance of Step It Up And Go. He also performs with Clint Howard and Fred Price playing Fire On The Mountain and Daniel Prayed, and with his wife Rosa Lee for a moving rendition of Wandering Boy.

vestapol 13044   no longer available on VHS