I have seen the David
Seen the Mona Lisa too
And I have heard Doc Watson play Columbus Stockade Blues.
That’s the company in which the esteemed songwriter Guy Clark placed the legendary North Carolina musician Doc Watson, who passed away at age 89 on Tuesday evening in a Winston-Salem hospital. Indeed: There was no higher art.
The eulogies for Watson will no doubt be plentiful and profound in the days to come. In this moment upon hearing the news tonight, my thoughts are of his daily appearances at Merlefest in the early-evening hours on the main stage, pickin’ and singin’ a tribute to his late son Merle, recast from the classic “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.”
Tonight, you can almost hear Doc and Merle singing together again—in the sky, lord, in the sky.
