Original Folkways Recordings: 1960-1962 is the title of a recording by Doc Watson

Doc Watson

Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson is an American guitar player, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. He has won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded...

 and Clarence Ashley

Clarence Ashley

"Tom" Clarence Ashley was an American clawhammer banjo player, guitarist and singer. He began performing at medicine shows in the Southern Appalachian region as early as 1911, and gained initial fame during the late 1920s as both a solo recording artist and as a member of various string bands...

 , released in 1994.

History

Banjoist and comedian Ashley and guitarist, singer Watson were recorded both in the studio and field recordings in the early 1960's. In the folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 revival of the late 1950s and early 1960s, urban ethnomusicologists rediscovered Ashley's music. In 1960 Ralph Rinzler

Ralph Rinzler

Ralph Rinzler was the co-founder of the annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the Mall every summer in Washington, D.C., where he worked as a curator for American art, music, and folk culture at the Smithsonian....

 met Ashley at the Old Time Fiddler's Convention and persuaded him to start playing banjo again and to record his repertoire of songs. Over the next few years he and his friends, including Doc Watson

Doc Watson

Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson is an American guitar player, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. He has won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded...

, played at many urban folk festivals. They also made two records for Folkways Records

Folkways Records

Folkways Records was a record label founded by Moses Asch that documented folk, world, and children's music. It was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution in 1987, and is now part of Smithsonian Folkways.-History:...

 Old Time Music at Clarence Ashley's, Vol. 1 and Old Time Music at Clarence Ashley's, Vol. 2.

At the time of the earliest recordings, Watson did not even own an acoustic guitar and was playing electric guitar in a local rockabilly band. Ashley himself did not even own a banjo and hadn't played for 20 years. This reissue includes material from those albums along with 20 additional selections. These recordings feature the very first commercially released recordings by Watson.

Reception

Writing for Allmusic, music critic Burgin Mathews wrote of the album "... the set is required listening for Watson fans and for enthusiasts of old-time music, its entertainment value as strong as its historical significance. The surprising offspring of the urban revival's intersection with a traditional musical community, Watson and Ashley's Original Folkways Recordings reveals a bottomless well of tradition and a music as fresh and exciting today as it was to the college kids and festival followers of the early '60s."

Track listing

All songs Traditional unless otherwise noted.

1. "Crawdad Song" – 3:33
2. "Sitting on Top of the World
   Sitting on Top of the World
   "Sitting on Top of the World" is a folk-blues song written by Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon, core members of the Mississippi Sheiks, a popular country blues band of the 1930s...
   
   " (Sam Chatmon
   Sam Chatmon
   Sam Chatmon was a Delta blues guitarist and singer. He was a member of the Mississippi Sheiks and may have been Charlie Patton's half brother.-Life and career:...
   
   , Walter Vinson
   Walter Vinson
   Walter Vinson was an American Memphis blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a member of the Mississippi Sheiks, worked with Bo Chatmon and his brothers, and co-wrote the blues standard, "Sitting on Top of the World"...
   
   ) – 3:05 (*)
3. "Lee Highway Blues" – 1:41
4. "Free Little Bird" – 2:06
5. "The Cuckoo
   The Cuckoo (song)
   "The Cuckoo" is a traditional English folk song. It has been covered by many musicians in several different styles. An early notable recorded version was performed by Appalachian folk musician Clarence Ashley with a unique banjo tuning....
   
   " – 2:33
6. "Rising Sun Blues" – 2:56
7. "Looking T'Ward Heaven" (Presley) – 2:27 (*)
8. "Rambling Hobo" – 1:27 (*)
9. "Rambling Hobo" – 1:36 (*)
10. "Shady Grove" – 1:28
11. "Cumberland Gap" – 2:18 (*)
12. "Tough Luck" – 2:26
13. "Humpbacked Mule" – 1:26
14. "My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains" (Ashley, Carter) – 2:47
15. "Way Downtown" – 2:29
16. "Banks of the Ohio" – 4:11 (*)
17. "Little Sadie" – 2:19
18. "Carroll County Blues" – 1:39 (*)
19. "Cluck Old Hen" – 1:45 (*)
20. "Chilly Winds (Lonesome Road Blues" – 2:37 (*)
21. "Sweet Heaven When I Die" – 2:37 (*)
22. "Fire on the Mountain" – 1:22 (*)
23. "Will the Circle Be Unbroken
    Can the Circle Be Unbroken (By and By)
    "Can the Circle Be Unbroken " is the title of a country/folk song reworked by A. P. Carter from the hymn "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" by Ada R. Habershon and Charles H. Gabriel. The song's lyrics concern the death, funeral, and mourning of the narrator's mother.The song first gained attention due...
    
    " – 3:20 (*)
24. "Daniel Prayed" (Speer) – 2:54
25. "Amazing Grace
    Amazing Grace
    "Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn with words written by the English poet and clergyman John Newton , published in 1779. With a message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of the sins people commit and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God,...
    
    " (John Newton
    John Newton
    John Henry Newton was a British sailor and Anglican clergyman. Starting his career on the sea at a young age, he became involved with the slave trade for a few years. After experiencing a religious conversion, he became a minister, hymn-writer, and later a prominent supporter of the abolition of...
    
    ) – 3:56
26. "Sally Ann" – 2:31
27. "Richmond Blues" (Ashley) – 1:33
28. "Old Ruben" – 2:00
29. "Willie Moore" – 3:31 (*)
30. "Walking Boss" – 1:49
31. "Shout Lulu" – 1:23 (*)
32. "Skillet Good and Greasy" – 2:05
33. "Pretty Little Pink" – 2:26
34. "Run, Jimmie, Run" – 3:05 (*)
35. "Hicks' Farewell" – 5:22
36. "The Old Man at the Mill" – 1:54
37. "A Short Life of Trouble" – 3:18 (*)
38. "Brown's Dream" – 1:41 (*)
39. "Footprints in the Snow" – 2:42
40. "I'm Going Back to Jericho" – 1:51
41. "Peg and Awl" – 2:11
42. "Maggie Walker Blues" – 2:53
43. "God's Gonna Ease My Troublin' Mind" – 3:03
44. "I Saw a Man at the Close of Day" (Grayson, Whitter) – 2:37 (*)
45. "Handsome Molly" – 2:13
46. "John Henry" – 3:42 (*)
47. "Honey Babe Blues" – 3:43
48. "Wayfaring Pilgrim" – 5:05 (*)

(*) denotes songs not found on the Old Time Music at Clarence Ashley's recordings.

Personnel

• Doc Watson – guitar, banjo, harmonica, vocals
• Clarence Ashley
  Clarence Ashley
  "Tom" Clarence Ashley was an American clawhammer banjo player, guitarist and singer. He began performing at medicine shows in the Southern Appalachian region as early as 1911, and gained initial fame during the late 1920s as both a solo recording artist and as a member of various string bands...
  
   – banjo
• Gaither Carlton
  Gaither Carlton
  Gaither Wiley Carlton was an American Old-time fiddle player and banjo player. He is best known for his appearances accompanying his son-in-law Doc Watson during the folk music revival of the 1960s. While not recorded before the folk revival, Carlton had been playing with some of the region's...
  
  – fiddle
• Clint Howard – vocals
• Fred Price – fiddle, vocals