Jack Lawrence and Peter Rowan perform for Doc Watson’s 103 birthday – photo © Vivian Hopkins
If Doc Watson was still living, he would have turned 103 today. This past Sunday night, Jack Lawrence, Doc’s picking partner for 27 years, along with Peter Rowan and a host of friends, celebrated the guitar guru with a concert at the Neighborhood Theater in Charlotte, NC. For the fourth consecutive year, Jack and a gathered ensemble presented a three-hour show remembering the good doctor and his musical legacy.
Lawrence stepped up to microphone on his own to begin the evening of guitar-infused tribute with one of Watson’s signature tunes, Walk on Boy. After a few tunes, Jack was joined by his son, Adam, who performed another classic Doc tune, Shady Grove. Then the duo sang It’s Raining Here This Morning, joined by mandolinist Steven Davidson.
Davidson then brought out his new group, North State Grass, that included rising stars Ettore Buzzini on banjo, Cooper Eades on guitar, Angel Chantel on bass, and Addy Quinn on fiddle, playing Doc’s Brown’s Ferry Blues as one of their featured numbers. The mando man returned with his longtime band, Coddle Creek, which included Adam Lawrence, and they performed Watson’s classic, Tennessee Stud, during their set.
Following intermission, Jack returned to the stage and spoke about an old guitar that Doc had in his home. He eventually gave it to Jack, who had it restored and still owns it. Then the flatpicker was joined by special guest, Peter Rowan, on guitar, with Chris Henry on mandolin, Graham Sharp on banjo, and Davidson on bass. Peter yodeled his way through Brakeman’s Blues and performed several of his classics such as Panama Red, Midnight Moonlight, and Trail of Tears.
Jack shared a special song.
“This turned out to be the very last song I ever played with Doc. We were at MerleFest and we were in one of these big jam sessions on Saturday night. We sat Doc in a chair and ran people by him. So I came out, not knowing what to do, and Doc said, ‘Sing I Know What It Means to Be Lonesome.’ That was the last time I saw Doc, and the last time I played a tune with him. He died three or four weeks later.”
He then picked and sang the tune with the ensemble.
That was followed by the entire crew convening on stage for the grand finale, sharing a round of Watson’s Blues.
Chris Henry led the stage of musicians and included the audience in singing a gospel medley of I‘ll Fly Away, Will the Circle Be Unbroken, I Saw the Light, and Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. Rowan rebounded with a little Lonesome Road Blues to close the evening of remembrance of the great Doc Watson from Deep Gap.
Previously, Lawrence had shared some of his history with Watson.
I started playing with him just after my 30th birthday in October 1983. Merle and I were friends, and he called me on a Friday and asked if I could go with Doc to Chicago on a Saturday. I had never really played with Doc except maybe like on an encore at the end of a show, so we didn’t know each other very well. I guess he trusted Merle to send me up there.
The next day I flew to Chicago and thought there might be some sort of rehearsal or least running through some songs, but no. We got there and did two songs as a sound check. Then I figured he’s going to run through some stuff with me now. No, he wanted to go to dinner.
Just before going on stage, he named off three songs and asked if I knew these songs. I said, ‘Yea, I can play those.’ He said, ‘Well, that’s a good start.’ So we went out and did it cold.”
Lawrence further reflected…
We rubbed off on each other after all those years. I hear more of Doc in my playing now than I did before I started with him, and there was plenty then because I learned from his records. After a while, Doc got a little more adventurous and was playing stuff out on a limb. He never did that in the early days, but especially after we started doing our duo after Coleman left the band. We were on the road a lot and it was just the two of us. Doc became more adventurous and I kind of reigned myself in from playing the wild stuff. I learned restraint from him and he learned to get a little wild from me. That was kind of cool the way we rubbed off on each other.
We never rehearsed a new song. We learned it on stage basically. If he played through something once or twice in the green room, there’s a good chance that would be on the show.
Our arrangements would come out organically while we were on stage. If I had a little hook I wanted to play on a song, just something a little different, a different lick, I played it. Then I discovered he’s playing my part so I had to come up with something different! So that happened on a few songs. Evidently, my lick was good enough because he took it. I was always so proud of that because I stole so many licks that was his. It was a real compliment that he would steal mine.”
It was a lovely evening of music and reminiscence.
