In honor of the 35th annual MerleFest coming up this week, American Songcatcher presents a very special LOCAL FOCAL - a relatively unknown live recording from May of 1989 of North Carolina’s own Doc Watson, telling stories and singing songs passed through his family - only this show he was asked to perform without his guitar, until the very end.

This concert was part of a historical series called Over Home, which aired on the well-known WNCW radio in Spindale, NC between 1988 and 1990. The show featured Western North Carolina traditional musicians and storytellers, and variety of musical styles, such as ballad singing, old-time fiddle tunes, Cherokee oral traditions and dances, and Irish jigs and reels, ghost stories, fox hunting tales, Civil War stories, and moonshine tales.

This is unlike any of the episodes we’ve put out on American Songcatcher. There are no overdubs, no editing, just the seamless experience of Doc Watson, live, without his guitar. 

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Over Home Archive - Berea College

WNCW 

Southern Songs and Stories Podcast

Over Home Credits:

Hosted by Sheila Kay Adams and Taylor Barnhill

Recorded by Sheila Kay Adams

Engineered by WNCW and Burr Beard - Manager

American Songcatcher Credits:Hosted and produced by Nicholas Edward Williams