QUOTE(Tony @ Mar 3 2006, 10:13 AM) [snapback]34378[/snapback]

Folk Singer Doc Watson is 83.
Re: Doc's son, Merle
In the early dark hours of October 23, 1985, just days before 'Frets Magazine' named him the best finger-picking guitarist of the year in folk, blues, or country music, Eddy Merle Watson rolled his farm tractor on a steep hillside near his home, ending the life of one of the world's great musicians in a tragedy worthy of the blues ballads he loved. Some people knew Merle Watson well, some were acquainted with him as a consequence of brief interactions of one sort or another, some had only the privilege of seeing him perform his musical wizardry on stage or listening to one or more of his many recordings, but everyone loved and respected him. Merle touched lives world wide as is evidenced by over 700 cards, letters, and other written condolences received by his family, Doc, Rosa Lee, and Nancy, after Merle's fatally tragic accident. These expressions of sympathy were in addition to the hundreds of phone calls and personal visits to the Watson's Deep Gap, North Carolina home. This tremendous outpouring of support was not engendered by a love of Merle's music alone, but also by the way his charisma and kindness transcended his fundamental shyness and silence on stage to reveal themselves in his exquisite fingerwork and gentle smile.
Merle