Search - Doc Watson & Merle :: Lonesome Road & Look Away

Missing gems from Doc & Merle

Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 01/22/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Two somewhat atypical Doc & Merle albums from the late '70s, originally released on the United Artists label. 1977's On "Lonesome Road" the bluegrass legends use ...gasp!... a snare drum set on most tracks, which creates an overt link to the world of rock'n'roll (where they definitely had a few fans!). This album was a bit ungainly, but it's always nice to hear Doc indulging his bluesy side. "Look Away," from 1978, sheds the drums, but keeps the alt.country attitude, and is, in the final analysis, a pleasant little surprise... one of the overlooked gems in Watson's back catalog, as a matter of fact. I've always been partial to Doc's versions of "You Two-Timed Me Once Too Often" and " 'Rangement Blues," both of which used to be played all the time on KFAT, back in the good old days. I'm pretty pleased to see these two albums back in print on CD!"

Look up, look down, look away

Jerome Clark | Canby, Minnesota | 05/25/2003

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In the 1970s, as the success of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's acclaimed collaboration Will the Circle Be Unbroken took his name outside the small folk clubs and into the larger world, Doc Watson embarked on a number of what would be, by his standards, "commercial" recordings. That means he tried a full-band sound, not excluding drums, and -- while never entirely abandoning traditional music -- expanded his repertoire to include more modern country songs and rhythmic blues. At the time I recall being less than enchanted with the results. Now, though, as this material is being reissued on CD, I hear it with new ears, and it's better than I remembered it. For one thing, it showcases Merle's tasty slide-guitar playing, and that is never a bad thing. The first of the two reissued albums here, Lonesome Road, is an overlooked gem, nicely produced by Billy Vaughn, with some memorable performances. My favorite cuts are the acoustic blues-rocker reading of the 1920s "Minglewood Blues" and the spare, reflective version of the traditional Appalachian lament "Look Up Look Down That Lonesome Road." Though the latter recalls the sound of earlier Folkways and Vanguard recordings and thus is atypical of the rest of the fare, it underscores Doc's mastery of pure Southern folk music. He and Merle (who would die tragically in 1985) engagingly take on Mississippi John Hurt's "My Creole Belle" and the sardonic, downhome-boy-in-the-big-city "Broomstraw Philosophers and Scuppernong Wine."The second record, Look Away!, isn't quite as good. The song choice isn't as consistently satisfying as on Lonesome Road. On the other hand, there's nothing obnoxious or embarrassing or unlistenable, though Mac McAnally's "It's a Crazy World" is as banal as anything the Watsons ever recorded. More happily, "'Rangement Blues" and the instrumental "Under the Double Eagle" show us the Watsons in top form."