Doc & Merle Watson's Guitar Album

Doc & Merle Watson's Guitar Album

. . . except for two joint endeavours with Flatt & Scruggs and Chet Atkins respectively, the Watsons had never recorded an album whose prime focus is their hot picking. The Guitar Album was prepared with an ear towards filling this vacuum. It features Doc flat-picking a number of fiddle tunes, Merle's sinuous slide work, swing tunes, a waltz, a polka and a blues. A return visit is paid to Black Mountain Rag," and it's a revelation to compare this rendition with Doc's 1963 version and to see how he and it have developed. The Watsons are once again fortunate to be supported by T. Michael Coleman's electric bass work. Champion fiddler Mark O'Connor, whose path has often crossed with the Watsons' along the bluegrass festival circuit, became an inevitable choice to alternate solos with the guitars. Finally, Pat McInerney rounds out the ensemble on various percussion instruments, including his legs." --Mitch Greenhill, producer