The Original Folkways Recordings of Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley, 1960-1962 cover

The Original Folkways Recordings of Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley, 1960-1962

Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley

Album · 1994 · Smithsonian Folkways CD SF 40029

Smithsonian Folkways issued The Original Folkways Recordings of Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley, 1960–1962 in 1994 as a two-CD set (SF 40029/30) with a 36-page booklet. Ralph Rinzler, the folklorist and mandolin player, recorded the material in the early 1960s, in the studio and in the field, and he is credited as executive producer. The set collects the contents of the two Folkways LPs Old Time Music at Clarence Ashley’s, Volumes 1 and 2, and adds twenty further selections. Eugene W. Earle is credited with Rinzler as recordist.

Rinzler met the banjo player Clarence Ashley at the Old Time Fiddler’s Convention in 1960 and persuaded him to begin playing banjo again and to record his repertoire. Ashley’s friends and neighbours joined in, among them Doc Watson, who at the time of the earliest recordings did not own an acoustic guitar and played electric guitar in a local rockabilly band. The recordings were Watson’s first to be released commercially.

The 48 tracks feature Watson on guitar, banjo and harmonica, with Ashley on banjo and Clint Howard on guitar and vocals. Fred Price plays fiddle, and Gaither Carlton, Arnold Watson, Dock Walsh, Jack Burchett, Jack Johnson, Garley Foster and Tommy Moore on washboard are heard along with Rinzler on guitar. The songs include “Rising Sun Blues,” “Shady Grove,” “Banks of the Ohio,” “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” “Amazing Grace” and “Wayfaring Pilgrim.”

Tracklist

  1. 1 Crawdad Song alt version 2:31
  2. 2 Sitting on Top of the World alt version 1:59
  3. 3 Lee Highway Blues 1:45
  4. 4 Free Little Bird 2:09
  5. 5 The Cuckoo alt version 2:49
  6. 6 Rising Sun Blues 2:58
  7. 7 Looking T'ward Heaven 2:31
  8. 8 Rambling Hobo - 1 1:30
  9. 9 Rambling Hobo - 2 1:39
  10. 10 Shady Grove alt version 2:59
  11. 11 Cumberland Gap alt version 3:06
  12. 12 Tough Luck 2:29
  13. 13 Humpbacked Mule 1:30
  14. 14 My Home’s Across the Blue Ridge Mountains alt version 2:42
  15. 15 Way Down Town 2:32
  16. 16 Banks of the Ohio alt version 4:12
  17. 17 Little Sadie alt version 2:46
  18. 18 Carroll County Blues 1:43
  19. 19 Cluck Old Hen alt version 2:34
  20. 20 Chilly Winds (Lonesome Road Blues) 2:40
  21. 21 Sweet Heaven When I Die alt version 2:40
  22. 22 Fire on the Mountain alt version 2:03
  23. 23 Will the Circle be Unbroken alt version 5:38
  24. 24 Old Daniel Prayed alt version 2:25
  25. 25 Amazing Grace alt version 2:57
  26. 26 Sally Ann alt version 3:01
  27. 27 Richmond Blues 1:36
  28. 28 Reuben’s Train alt version 3:34
  29. 29 Willie Moore 3:35
  30. 30 Walking Boss alt version 1:52
  31. 31 Shout Lulu 1:27
  32. 32 Skillet Good and Greasy 2:08
  33. 33 Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss alt version 2
  34. 34 Run, Jimmie Run 3:09
  35. 35 Hicks' Farewell 5:26
  36. 36 The Old Man at the Mill alt version 1:57
  37. 37 A Short Life of Trouble 3:22
  38. 38 Brown's Dream 1:44
  39. 39 Footprints in the Snow alt version 2:39
  40. 40 I'm Going Back to Jericho 1:55
  41. 41 Peg and Awl 2:15
  42. 42 Maggie Walker Blues 2:56
  43. 43 God's Gonna Ease My Troublin' Mind 3:07
  44. 44 I Saw a Man at the Close of Day 2:41
  45. 45 Handsome Molly alt version 2:03
  46. 46 John Henry alt version 3:12
  47. 47 Honey Babe Blues 3:47
  48. 48 Wayfaring Pilgrim 5:05

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