For any listener just getting acquainted with Doc's work, the new Vanguard set is an endlessly enjoyable introduction to the wide range of his music, mixing classic early studio cuts with many live performances, solo tunes with duets (many with his son Merle who toured with him for years), adding a generous helping of fine string-band material with his local picking partners Clint Howard and Fred Price, plus tunes featuring other relatives and friends including the great Clarence "Tom" Ashley. And for connoisseurs who already know Doc's output, the fourth disc is made up entirely of never-before-released material, including half a dozen marvelous duets with country-swing legend Merle Travis. There are definitely small flaws in the packaging and notes (confusing sequencing of some of the material, with a tendency to follow the chronological order of issued Vanguard albums rather than the order of the actual recordings; some surprising failings to credit songwriters and sidemen correctly or in some cases at all). I'd also question the producers' decision not to take full advantage of the CD format by including even more performances from the wealth they have available: at 38 to 50 minutes each, the four discs are by no means filled to capacity. But still, 64 tunes is certainly a lot of good material, and for sheer musical enjoyment, the cuts assembled here are consistently first-rate.

No one set, though, can fully sum up an artist of this caliber, and a number of other wonderful recent issues on CD and videotape serve to further reveal both the breadth of Doc's talent and the depth of his regional country music heritage. That mind-blowing original Vanguard album is now available on CD reissue (Doc Watson, Vanguard 79152), and although about half the cuts are duplicated on the box set, it is still an essential classic, containing (among others the box didn't include) the dazzling "Nashville Blues" and his epochal long version of the classic North Carolina ballad "Tom Dooley." As a single-disc introduction to Doc's music, this album is unbeatable.

And for anyone interested in understanding the country music tradition from which Doc emerged, rather than simply marveling at his individual talent, an essential companion to the Vanguard recordings is the recent Smithsonian/ Folkways issue Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley: The Original Folkways Recordings (SF CD 40029/30). This 2-CD set is really one of the most important and powerful folk music albums of the last 40 years, an absolute treasure for anyone who loves the "high lonesome sound" of the old-time Southern music. Doc was in fact "discovered" by the outside world when the late, great folklorist Ralph Rinzler took his historic 1961 trip to the Tennessee/ Carolina hill country to visit and record Ashley, a banjoist and ballad singer who had recorded a handful of fascinating 78 RPM sides in the 1920s. Rinzler and his colleague Eugene Earle were interested in recording Ashley in combination with his friends and neighbors as well as alone... one of those neighbors turned out to be a fella name of Watson, and it was these informal field recordings (first issued on 2 Folkways albums and now supplemented with many additional performances) which led to the Vanguard records and Doc's solo career. Aside from their historic importance, these Folkways sessions are absolutely spellbinding -- an amazing compendium of fiddle and banjo pieces, gorgeous gospel singing, haunting mountain blues (you'll never think of "House of the Rising Sun" the same way again after hearing Ashley's version), hard-driving pre-bluegrass string band romps, and of course plenty of fine, subtle guitar work from Doc. Rinzler's superb album notes are a rare combination of thorough documentation and fascinating storytelling, and provide important insight into the evolution of Doc's style. Most importantly, though, this set is truly rich listening: deep, compelling American folk music in all its true grit and soul.

Another important avenue for exploring Doc's music is the series of videotape compilations which have been appearing recently on Stefan Grossman's Vestapol label. Grossman and his colleagues are providing an enormous and long-overdue service by bringing together a wealth of historic performances, painstakingly uncovered from long-forgotten TV appearances, filmed festival performances and collectors' tapes, showing many of our greatest American traditional musicians, bluesmen, and country pickers in terrific live performances. The sound and image quality is often less than high-tech state-of-the-art, but every performance I've seen in the series has been extremely watchable and listenable; and the magic, the power, the historic importance of being able to see as well as hear an artist like Doc, playing and singing his heart out on many of his classic numbers in those early breakthrough years, is a priceless experience. Many of the musicians Grossman documents in his catalog are already gone -- Rev. Gary Davis, Mississippi John Hurt, Freddie King, the Balfa Brothers, Merle Travis, Ashley, Fred Price and so many more... others like Doc are still with us but performing less and less frequently. The Vestapol series is invaluable opportunity to experience many of America's greatest folk artists at the height of their powers; it is a musical education, and a great inspiration.

With that said, I will now be more specific about the Doc tapes in particular. It's my strong belief that Doc's music is, in general, most powerful and interesting during the period ca. 1960-70, represented by the Vanguard and Folkways issues: the period when he is performing in a fully acoustic setting, and playing either completely solo, or just with son Merle backing him up -- or, if he plays in a group context, it is with the authentic old-time sound of Ashley, Fred Price, and other friends and relatives who are steeped in the old traditions just as Doc himself is. This is the material to seek out if we want to really hear him at his peak soulfulness and intensity. Fortunately, a substantial amount of this material is available on Doc Watson: Rare Performances, 1963-1981 (Vestapol 13023), on which half the performances (9 tunes) do date from the earlier, and more powerful, period. To see these utterly haunting renditions of "Saint James Hospital", "Daniel Prayed" (with Price and Clint Howard), "Shady Grove", "Tom Dooley", and more, is a rich experience and a great opportunity, recommended without reservation.

Doc also appears with Price and Howard on several numbers of Legends of Old Time Music (Vestapol 13026), which also includes Ashley and other fascinating mountain musicians, Roscoe Holcomb, Sam McGee, and so on, and provides a sort of video equivalent of the Rinzler Folkways set, in terms of displaying the wide range of authentic old-time instrumental and ballad styles. Doc and Merle (Vestapol 13044), an intimate, Les Blank-style TV documentary on the Watsons, is surprisingly rich, moving, and insightful, including many fascinating scenes of Doc at home with family and friends, some very illuminating commentary by Rinzler, John Cohen, and Doc himself on the history of his music and career, and a number of strong, affecting performances. Merle Watson died in 1985 in a tractor accident, and this tape is a subtle and touching memorial to his life and work as well as his father's.

A second volume of the Doc Watson: Rare Performances series, covering the years 1982-1983 (Vestapol 13024) is much more dispensable (though it does include a fabulous solo version of the Jimmie Rodgers classic "In the Jailhouse Now"). A Doc & Merle In Concert tape (Vestapol 13030), which we haven't had a chance to screen yet, should perhaps be approached with caution also: the performance here dates from 1980, a period when the Watsons tended to burden their sound with unnecessary electric bass accompaniment and cheesy-sounding pickup-and-amplifier rigs, and in general sounded less inspired than in the earlier (Folkways-Vanguard) years. However, even in periods which I find less compelling, Doc's musicianship is always impeccable, and there are startling moments of soul and brilliance throughout all of his work. He is a deep, unique American artist, and his music is endlessly rewarding and delightful.