Doc Watson Biography ‘Blind But Now I See’ by Kent Gustavson: A Definitive Biography of an American Icon

Doc Watson Biography ‘Blind But Now I See’
by Kent Gustavson
A Definitive Biography of an American Icon

“A touching story about overcoming life’s obstacles…”
–Vintage Guitar Magazine

“Musicologists will appreciate the chapters on Doc’s singing style and guitar work… Music fans will delight in the book as a whole, a splendid recounting of Doc Watson as man whose ‘…approach to folk music on a guitar was like Horowitz’s approach to the piano…”
–Gary Presley, The Internet Review of Books

“This is a highly informative, fascinating biography of the great Doc Watson. What a life. It’s a page-turner that will keep you up past your bedtime. Don’t miss it.”
–The Inland Northwest Bluegrass Association

“This is a valuable, anecdotal work anyone interested in Doc’s music and life will enjoy reading.” –Bluegrass Unlimited

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Award-winning author Kent Gustavson was born immersed in a rich musical heritage. As the son of peaceniks, he grew up with family sing-alongs. From Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, and Bob Dylan, he darted to classical, jazz, and avant-garde jazz, before circling back to the Greenwich Village folk canon and tracing that music back. In singer-guitarist Doc Watson, Gustavson found a treasure of American music. His biography of Watson, Blind But Now I See (Sumach-Red Books) is the definitive biography of an American icon.

The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based author is uniquely qualified to write a book that merges myth, musicology, and American history. He holds a PhD in classical composition from Stony Brook University in New York, where he taught leadership, writing, literature, music and German for ten years. He’s an active musician with 14 critically acclaimed albums, and his music has been featured on National Public Radio’s All Songs Considered. He also hosts a radio show, Sound Authors, where he has interviewed hundreds of award-winning authors and musicians.

Blind But Now I See is the first comprehensive biography of Doc Watson. It was written over 6 years, culled from meticulous archival research and well over a hundred interviews. The book brims with insights from such legendary musicians as Bela Fleck, Ben Harper, David Grisman, David Moultrup, Jerry Douglas, Jonathan Byrd, Marty Stuart, Michelle Shocked, Mike Seeger, Norman Blake, Ricky Skaggs, Tommy Emmanuel, Tony Rice, Tony Trischka, and Warren Haynes, among many others. It is a winner of a Next Generation Indie Book Award, and finalist in the Foreword Book of the Year Awards. The book has sold 5,000 paperbacks and 25,000 e-books. Vintage Guitar Magazine praises it as: “A touching story about overcoming life’s obstacles.” Blind But Now I See is now available in its expanded second printing, with a third and even more expansive edition already in the works.

Two-time Grammy Award winner Ben Harper says in his Blind But Now I See interview: “There was a sense of grace, effortlessness, and fluidity to Doc Watson’s musicianship and singing that is nothing short of miraculous.”

Watson’s influence has been recognized by presidents and by heroes of modern music such as Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Ben Harper, Robert Plant, and Gillian Welch, but little is known about his personal life, his complex relationship with his son, Merle, his mythical rise to prominence, and his awe-inspiring musicality. Watson was a blind boy from the small town of Deep Gap, North Carolina who grew up in the Depression, then lived in abject poverty until being brought into the 1960s folk scene. For over 52 years, Watson mesmerized bluegrass, folk, and rock audiences with his soft baritone and fiery guitar licks

Gustavson’s congenial but probingly insightful interview skills help piece together a powerful and honest character mosaic. His vibrant, erudite, and enthusiastic prose demystifies Watson’s astounding musicality and dissects the paradoxes and complexities of the man with bold sensitivity.

In an interview with esteemed alt-country publication No Depression Gustavson said: “I stumbled across a copy of The Watson Family by Folkways records. Watson’s voice was so rock-solid in those family hymns that I still sing the bass part today, because it’s stronger in my mind than the melody! He pointed me towards the blues, early rock and roll, traditional Appalachian fiddle music, and balladry. He literally started a brush fire in my musical mind.”

In 2004 Gustavson began writing Blind But Now I See, and nearly 10 years later and three editions in he’s emerged an authority on the enigmatic icon. He told No Depression: “Countless close friends and family members of Doc have come to me over the past two years and thanked me for writing this biography, and for really framing the reality surrounding his life.” Besides the plaudits from insiders, the biggest reward is bringing this journey back home. “In the new edition I finally got a chance to speak to Pete Seeger,” Gustavson says. “I called my parents and told them ‘Pete Seeger just spoke to me!’ What an honor.”

Biography Written By: Lorne Behrman

www.kentgustavson.com

Great review by Professor Puppet

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Songs Of Water will be performing at LEAF this Fall!

LEAF Set Times and Stages:

10/20 9:00pm @ Eden Hall
10/21 6:30pm @ Roots Family Stage
10/21 11:30pm @ Eden Hall

For more information on The Lake Eden Arts Festival in Black Mountain, NC please visit theleaf.org

www.songsofwater.com

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Much like the earthly element from which they draw their name, the story of Songs Of Water ebbs and flows, pulsing with life, beauty and energy. Beginning in 2002, Songs Of Water started as a loose community of friends centered on writing and experimenting with different sounds and instrumentation. Most of the music was off-the-cuff improvisation that later grew and matured into completed composition.

That attention to the natural flow and feel of music even extended to the make-up of the group itself, as the membership rose to as many as ten and fell to as little as three, depending on the needs of the music. Stephen Roach (vocals, guitar, hammered dulcimer, mandolin, percussion, tenor banjo) revels in the “cross pollination” found within the band’s members and their individual talents. “One of the unique qualities about the band is that most of our backgrounds are very different than one another.”

Luke Skaggs (violin, guitar, lap steel, percussion, backing vocals) and Molly Skaggs (vocals, accordian, banjo) grew up with bluegrass in their blood, thanks to Ricky Skaggs being their dad. Roach’s own heritage came from his father and from his cousin, acclaimed bluegrass guitarist Tony Rice.

Marta Richardson (violin) and Sarah Stephens (cello, vocals) are both classically trained musicians who have played in symphonies. The line-up is completed by Jason Windsor (classical, acoustic & baritone guitar, mandolin), Greg Willette (bass guitar, acoustic guitar), and Michael Pritchard (drums, percussion, hammered dulcimer, acoustic guitar).

So what ultimately binds this collective of extraordinary musicians together? According to Roach, “we discovered it was really fun to play this sort of cinematic, explorative music in a live setting. It flies so contrary to what you hear in most live music settings. The music pulls you into a deeper, perhaps even spiritual experience.”

Shutter 16 goes on to say, “Songs of Water’s musical range, not only instrumentally but vocally as well, is an elaborate production of many skilled musicians. If Hollywood decides to revisit Last of the Mohican’s or another similar tale as they look for more stories they can just reshoot in IMAX 3D, I fully expect SoW to be the featured sound-track artist as Linkin Park was to Transformers. Songs of Water is not something to miss.”

Their newest release, “The Sea Has Spoken,” is a true collaboration of all members, arrangements with textures woven together by everyone in the band. Their focus on mostly instrumental music comes from the power that sound without words wields over all of us. By leaving aside traditional lyrics, Songs Of Water’s music encompasses the listener, leading them to reconsider music, life and exploration anew. Their music becomes an interactive canvas, inviting all who hear to joy in the act of creation corporately.

“The band’s music feels primitive but forward-thinking, exotic yet familiar; it creates a complete narrative in the listener’s mind with rarely a word sung. Essentially, their music is transportive,”says Ryan Snyder with Shuffle Magazine. Alli Marshal with the Mountain Xpresssays, “The whole record ebbs and flows with graceful gestures, sweeping strokes of light and dark, complex layering and effortless playing… the collection as a whole is so engaging that, surely, to see the musicians in action would only add to the experience.”

Ultimately, the impetus for the band’s existence is the desire to share that transcendent experience with others. The members of Songs Of Water stumbled onto a new form of expression that connected with audiences, spurring them on to further innovations. Hungry to engage even more, they are now pursuing this path to see where the road might lead. As Roach puts it, “Water can be a peaceful stream or it can be a violent tsunami. Our music has that same tendency from moment to moment. It may be a contemplative classical guitar one moment or a raging orchestra of percussion the next.”

And thus flows Songs Of Water, roaming wide and far to pull its listeners in with tendrils of music and beauty.

“Although listeners will hear more than 30 instruments on the new album — from dun duns to doumbeks — the songs still ring familiar. Traditional sounds from the hammered dulcimer, banjo, and acoustic guitar reflect North Carolina’s musical roots. All the musicians credit their North Carolina heritage for influencing their music.”–
Carole Perkins – Our State Magazine
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