The Lost & Found - Classic Bluegrass

This hour-long compilation of Doc Watson clips kicks off with a version of "Deep River Blues" on a 1963 Hootenanny TV broadcast (accompanied by an unidentified standup bassist) and includes 1967 performances with fiddler Fred Price and guitarist Clint Howard, a 1970 television show, a 1978 Austin City Limits broadcast, and three songs from the 1981 Cambridge Folk Festival. Doc's talented son Merle accompanies him on guitar on most of the performances, which largely stick to folk standards such as "Nine Pound Hammer," "Black Mountain Rag," "Stack O' Lee Blues," "Tom Dooley," and "Will the Circle Be Unbroken." Even if you're not a particular old-time folk enthusiast, this is a lot more enjoyable than you might anticipate. Watson's playing is remarkably fluid and swinging -- it gets better, it seems, on the later clips -- and his stage presence is remarkably contained, warm, and assured, as if it would take nothing less than a 16-ton weight dropping onto the stage to rattle his relaxed intimacy. Highlights include the a cappella shape-note singing of "Daniel Prayed" (which Watson sings with Price and Howard) and Jimmy Driftwood's "Tennessee Stud," on which Watson and band periodically stop strumming and drum on their guitars to mimic horse gallops, without missing a beat.