Since the early '60s, guitar novices have been slowing down Doc Watson albums to figure out just how he crafts those elegantly crisp, tastefully flat-picked melodies.

Legendary guitarist Doc Watson died May 29 at the age of 89 at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Watson had undergone colon surgery earlier that week ...

In 1962, Doc Watson and some of his musician neighbors set out from their home in the Blue Ridge Mountains on the journey of a lifetime, to perform at the Ash Grove folk club in Los Angeles.

Doc Watson died in 2012 but his influence on American music was undeniable. Master of flatpicking--the technique of striking the strings of a guitar with a pick (also called a plectrum) held between ...

Doc Watson's son Merle began recording and touring with him in 1964. But Merle Watson died at age 36 in a 1985 tractor accident, sending his father into deep grief and making him consider retirement.

Folk musician Doc Watson dies at age 89 Musician Doc Watson poses backstage at McCabe's Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, Calif., in this 1986 publicity photo. Reuters ...

Doc Watson was the finest guitar picker of his time. Paul Natkin/Archive Photos via Getty Images Ted Olson, East Tennessee State University. Arthel Lane “Doc” Watson was born on March 3, 1923 ...

Doc Watson, the master of the flatpicking guitar style, died on Tuesday. The 89-year-old, born Arthel Lane Watson, passed away at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North ...

Doc Watson dead, guitar master was 89. In this May 1, 2011 file photo, master flatpicker Doc Watson performs with The Nashville Bluegrass Band during "Spirit of Sunday" during MerleFest in ...

You could hear the mountains of North Carolina in Doc Watson's music. The rush of a mountain stream, the steady creak of a mule in leather harness plowing rows in topsoil and the echoes of ancient ...

Remembering Doc Watson, Folk Guitar Hero (1923-2012) Smithsonian Folkways honors the blind folk musician who died yesterday at the age of 89. Aviva Shen. May 30, 2012. Get our newsletter!

Last year, Doc Watson stood in front of the crowd at the Spirit of Sunday service at MerleFest, playing a guitar that had been made for him by his good Guitar made for Doc Watson will be part of ...