Live and Pickin', released by United Artists in 1979, is the Doc and Merle Watson live album recorded at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco — with T. Michael Coleman of Frosty Morn sitting in on bass. The album features the instrumental medley Big Sandy / Leather Britches, which won the 1980 Grammy for Best Country Instrumental Performance. The Watsons' working stage show at this point combined Doc's flatpick virtuosity, Merle's strong slide guitar, and a deep, eclectic repertoire — folk-revival ballads, traditional bluegrass, blues, and country songs — delivered with the easy father-son chemistry that defined their working partnership. The Music Hall recording captures the duo with the immediacy a studio session rarely matched.
Tracklist
- 1 Dig a Little Deeper in the Well alt version 3:22
- 2 Milk cow blues 4:31
- 3 Wild Bill Jones alt version 3:23
- 4 Memories of you dear 2:30
- 5 Daybreak blues (blue yodel no. 12) 3:50
- 6 Big Sandy / Leather britches 1:40
- 7 Let the cocaine be 2:20
- 8 All I have to do is dream 2:38
- 9 Got the blues (can't be satisfied) 2:43
- 10 St. James Hospital / Frosty morn 6:12
- 11 Streamline Cannonball alt version 2:27