Black Mountain Rag Explained

Black Mountain Rag
Type:	compilation album
Artist:	Doc Watson, Merle Watson
Cover:	BlackMountainRagWatson.jpg
Released:	September 19, 2006
Genre:	Folk, blues
Label:	Rounder
Producer:	Mitch Greenhill, Tony Rice, Norman Blake
Chronology:	Doc Watson
Prev Title:	Sittin' Here Pickin' the Blues
Prev Year:	2004
Next Title:	Vanguard Visionaries
Next Year:	2008

Black Mountain Rag is the title of a recording by American folk music and country blues artists Doc Watson and Merle Watson, released in 2006. It contains songs taken from albums that Doc and Merle recorded on the Flying Fish label in the 1980s.

A 1990 trio bonus track of "Blackberry Blossom" with Doc, Norman Blake and Tony Rice is included.

Reception

Writing for Allmusic, music critic Steve Leggett wrote of the album "... what is immediately striking about this compilation is how varied it is, even as it settles nicely into familiar 'Watson country.' Again, there's no such thing as a bad Doc Watson album, and this one, like all the others, shows why he's a true national treasure."

Track listing

1. "Black Mountain Rag" (Traditional) – 2:42
2. "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke" (Merle Travis, Tex Williams) – 2:47
3. "Black Pine Waltz" (Traditional) – 2:34
4. "Red Rocking Chair" (Traditional, Watson) – 2:06
5. "Twinkle, Twinkle" (Traditional) – 3:04
6. "Below Freezing" (Coleman) – 2:20
7. "Mole in the Ground" (Traditional) – 2:30
8. "Liza/Lady Be Good" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, Gus Kahn) – 2:56
9. "Down Yonder" (Traditional) – 2:23
10. "Cotton Row" (Traditional) – 2:47
11. "Sadie" (T. Michael Coleman, Byron Hill) – 2:30
12. "Leaving London" (Tom Paxton) – 2:32
13. "Guitar Polka" (Dexter, Paris) – 2:22
14. "Fisher's Hornpipe/Devil's Dream" (Traditional) – 1:44
15. "Along the Road" (Dan Fogelberg) – 2:52
16. "Bye Bye Bluebelle/Smiles" (Travis) – 2:13
17. "Sheeps in the Meadow/Stoney Fork" (Traditional) – 2:53
18. "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" (Jack Norworth, Albert Von Tilzer) – 2:17
19. "Blackberry Blossom" (Traditional) – 3:15
20. "Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar" (Alton Delmore, Rabon Delmore) – 2:31

Personnel

• Doc Watson – vocals, guitar, banjo, harmonica
• Merle Watson – guitar, dobro, banjo, slide guitar
• T. Michael Coleman – bass, harmony vocals
• Herb Pedersen – harmony vocals
• Mark O'Connor – fiddle, mandolin
• Tony Rice – guitar
• Norman Blake – mandolin
• Ron Tutt – drums
• Gene Estes – percussion
• Hank "Bones" Kahn – bones
• Al Perkins – pedal steel guitar
• Charlie Musselwhite – harmonica
• Byron Berline – fiddle
• Tom Scott – clarinet
• Pat McInerney – drums, percussion

Production notes

• Hank Cicalo – engineer
• Ernie Winfrey – engineer
• Bill Wolf – engineer
• Jonathan Wyner – mastering