''The Elementary Doctor Watson!'' is a studio album by the American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, o ...

artists

Doc Watson Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson (March 3, 1923 – May 29, 2012) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues, and gospel music. Watson won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award ...

and

Merle Watson Eddy Merle Watson (February 8, 1949 – October 23, 1985) was an American folk and bluegrass guitarist. He was best known for his performances with his father, Doc Watson. Merle played and recorded albums together with his father from age 15 unti ...

, released in 1972. It peaked at #44 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart.

History

''The Elementary Doctor Watson!'' is Watson's first album after leaving the

Vanguard Records Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City. It was a primarily classical label at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but also has a catalogue of recordings by a nu ...

label for Poppy Records (Poppy Records' founder Kevin Eggers later started

Tomato Records The Tomato Music Co. Ltd., also known as Tomato Records, is an American independent record label founded in New York City in 1977 by music manager Kevin Eggers. It was a successor to his previous record labels Utopia and Poppy, the label was self- ...

and published many of the Poppy Records catalogue as CDs). It was the first of three successive Watson albums to be produced by

Jack Clement Jack Henderson Clement (April 5, 1931 – August 8, 2013) was an American singer, songwriter, and record and film producer. Biography Early life Raised and educated in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, Clement was performing at an early age, ...

. The next two won

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

awards. The cover art was created by one of Poppy Records' favoured artists,

Milton Glaser Milton Glaser (June 26, 1929June 26, 2020) was an American graphic designer. His most notable designs include the I Love New York logo, a 1966 poster for Bob Dylan, and the logos for DC Comics, Stony Brook University and Brooklyn Brewery. In 19 ...

, who also employed his font "Glaser Stencil" on the album's back cover. Doc dedicated the song "Treasures Untold" to his wife Rosa Lee. Sugar Hill records re-issued ''The Elementary Doctor Watson!'' on CD with four bonus tracks.

Reception

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

's Jim Smith called the album "a great Sunday morning record, a genuine pleasure from start to finish."

Track listing

# "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad" (Traditional) – 2:48 # "The Last Thing on My Mind" (

Tom Paxton Thomas Richard Paxton (born October 31, 1937) is an American folk singer-songwriter who has had a music career spanning more than fifty years. In 2009, Paxton received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.Alton Delmore Alton may refer to: People *Alton (given name) * Alton (surname) Places Australia * Alton National Park, Queensland * Alton, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Balonne Canada * Alton, Ontario *Alton, Nova Scotia New Zealand *Alton, New Zealand ...

, Smith) – 2:49 # "I Couldn't Believe It Was True" (

Eddy Arnold Richard Edward Arnold (May 15, 1918 – May 8, 2008) was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a Nashville sound (country/popular music) innovator of the late 1950s, and scored 147 songs on the '' Billboard'' c ...

, Wally Fowler) – 2:50 # "

Summertime Summertime may refer to: Seasons and time of day * Summer, one of the temperate seasons * Daylight saving time or summer time, advancing the clock one hour during the summer ** British Summer Time ** Central European Summer Time Arts, entertainme ...

" (

George Gershwin George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned popular, jazz and classical genres. Among his best-known works are the orchestral compositions ' ...

Ira Gershwin Ira Gershwin (born Israel Gershovitz; December 6, 1896 – August 17, 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs in the English language of the ...

, DuBose Heyward) – 3:25 # "Worried Blues" (Traditional) – 3:12 # "Interstate Rag" (Watson) – 2:28 # "Three Times Seven" (Cliff Stone,

Merle Travis Merle Robert Travis (November 29, 1917 – October 20, 1983) was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist born in Rosewood, Kentucky, United States. His songs' lyrics often discussed both the lives and the economic explo ...

) – 2:18 # "Treasures Untold" (Ellsworth Cozzens,

Jimmie Rodgers James Charles Rodgers (September 8, 1897 – May 26, 1933) was an American singer-songwriter and musician who rose to popularity in the late 1920s. Widely regarded as "the Father of Country Music", he is best known for his distinctive rhythmi ...

) – 3:07 #:Reissue bonus tracks: # "I'm Going Fishing" (Traditional) – 2:38 # "Little Beggar Man/

Old Joe Clark "Old Joe Clark" is a US folk song, a mountain ballad that was popular among soldiers from eastern Kentucky during World War I and afterwards. Its lyrics refer to a real person named Joseph Clark, a Kentucky mountaineer who was born in 1839 and murd ...

" (Traditional) – 2:08 # " Frankie and Johnny" (Traditional) – 3:05 # "Old Camp Meetin' Time" (Traditional) – 2:08

Personnel

– guitar, harmonica, vocals *

– guitar, banjo * Norman Blake – dobro *

Vassar Clements Vassar Carlton Clements (April 25, 1928 – August 16, 2005) was an American jazz, swing, and bluegrass fiddler. Clements has been dubbed the Father of Hillbilly Jazz, an improvisational style that blends and borrows from swing, hot jazz, and ...

– fiddle *Joe Allen – bass *

Kenny Malone Kenny Malone (August 4, 1938 – August 26, 2021) was an American drummer and percussionist. Life and career Malone was born in Denver, Colorado. From the 1970s onwards, he was a prominent session musician in folk, country and many other acousti ...

– percussion *Charles Cochran – piano, string arrangements *Jim Colvard – guitar, baritone guitar *Jim Isbell – drums, sound effects *Ken Lauber – piano

Production notes

*Produced by Jack Clement *Recorded at Jack Clement Recording Studios, Nashville, Tennessee *Engineered by Ronnie Dean and Lee Hazen *Cover art by

*David Glasser – re-issue digital re-mastering

References

External links

Doc Watson discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elementary Doctor Watson!, The 1972 albums Doc Watson albums Albums produced by Jack Clement Tomato Records albums Albums with cover art by Milton Glaser