Doc Watson has never recorded a bad album, and
Red Rocking Chair, drawn from sessions in California in December 1980 and January 1981, is no exception. With his son Merle Watson on additional guitar and banjo, and with T. Michael Coleman on bass,
Watson brings his own considerable guitar and banjo skills to bear on this selection of folk and blues tunes.
Doc's voice is as easy and as comfortable as an old fishing hat, and that quality makes tunes like "Sadie," "Old Rocking Chair," and "Mole in the Ground" appear as familiar as old friends at a cookout.
Watson's version of
Tom Paxton's "John Hurt" is taken at a slightly faster pace than the original, and may well be the definitive take of this homage to
Mississippi John Hurt. The transformation of
Leroy Carr's "How Long Blues" into an easy guitar shuffle, complete with
Charlie Musselwhite on harmonica, is further proof of how
Watson makes everything he touches fit into his personal and seamless tour of American folk music. ~ Steve Leggett