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Doc Watson
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Doc Watson
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Doc Watson
Doc Watson Doc Watson performing at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, October 1, 2005.

Doc Watson

American musician
Also known as: Arthel Lane Watson
Written by
Melinda C. Shepherd
Melinda Shepherd became an editor at Encyclopædia Britannica in 1988 and served as a senior editor of Britannica Book of the Year from 2004 to 2016.
Melinda C. Shepherd
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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Doc Watson (born March 3, 1923, Stony Fork, near Deep Gap, North Carolina, U.S.—died May 29, 2012, Winston-Salem, North Carolina) was an American musician and singer who introduced a flat-picking style that elevated the acoustic guitar from a rhythmically strummed background instrument to a leading role in bluegrass, country, folk, and rock music, notably during the folk music revival of the 1960s. Watson was blind from infancy. He grew up on a farm, and with...

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