Memories

by Bruce EderTwenty-two songs originally recorded by Doc Watson (with Merle Watson producing in association with Chuck Cochran) for Capitol/EMI in the mid-'70s, a life-retrospective including traditional numbers like "Shady Grove" and A.P. Carter's "Wabash Cannonball," Jimmie Rodgers' "In the Jailhouse," and the old jug band standard "Mama Don't Allow No Music," among others. Apart from the fact that some of the songs were apparently overdubbed (Watson plays more than one instrument on certain numbers) and the presence of a more or less full country/bluegrass band (with unobtrusive electric piano and bass on a few tracks), there's nothing here to distinguish these recordings from Watson's Vanguard and Folkways stuff of the mid-'60s -- not only is Watson's playing as fine as, or better than, on the earlier records, but the voice is still there, so much that maybe the best track on this record is the a cappella "Wake Up, Little Maggie," maybe the most beautiful song Watson has ever recorded. Notes might have been nice, but the recording credits and song histories are thorough, and the sound is superb, right down to the exquisite harmonies on numbers like "Keep On the Sunny Side."