Legends of

Traditional
Fingerstyle
Guitar
featuring
Merle Travis
Elizabeth Cotten
Mance Lipscomb
Brownie McGhee
Doc & Merle Watson
Rev. Gary Davis
Roscoe Holcomb
Sam McGee
Josh White
 Traditional fingerstyle guitar is particular of its time and place,
drawing heavily upon local culture, but allowing for personal ex-
pression and innovation. Most rural communities at the turn of
the century, especially in the South, had their own musical
practitioners with stylistic similarities as well as shared repertoire
on stringed instruments. By the time regional representation of
rural black and white music began appearing on record, the
guitar had become (in most places) the premier instrument for its
versatility and expressiveness. While some songs such as “John
Henry”, “Casey Jones” and “Sitting On Top of the World” became
standards almost upon their inception, the manner in which they
were played could vary from place to place (two radically differ-
ent - yet still traditional versions of “John Henry” by Merle Travis
and Josh White that appear on this video, illustrate this).
Each of the artists presented here are masters of fingerstyle
guitar, whether two or three finger picking, with or without picks.
With rare exception, most were born around the turn of the
century or in its early years. From the Carolinas, Kentucky and
Tennessee to Texas, they fashioned a deeply influential manner
of playing wrought from rags, blues, ballads and native airs that
permeated their times and gave impetus to any musician, know-
ingly or not, who picks a string today.

MERLE TRAVIS was one

of the most influential
fingerpickers in the story
of traditional guitar. He
was born in 1913 in
Muhlenberg County. In
1917, he began playing
guitar. At an early age he
was influenced by a lo-
cal black musician, Jim
Fuller and Ike Everley
(father of the Everley
Brothers) as well as
photo courtesy of Cindy Travis

other guitarists in the

area. Travis’s unique
style of picking was syn-
thesized from a melange
of traditional elements
and became one of the
most influential on the
post-war country scene.
2
He began recording as a sideman with Clayton McMichen. By
the early 1940’s he had moved to Cincinnati. With Grandpa
Jones and the Delmore Brothers, he was one of the first artists
to record for the newly formed King records. After World War
II, he moved to Los Angeles and began recording classic
original compositions. On this video Merle performs “John
Henry”, one of the oldest folk ballads, which receives a
sprightly treatment reminiscent of the Delmore Brothers
while “Lost John” and “Mus'rat” go back to minstrel shows
from the turn of the century. Merle Travis died in 1983.
The Best Of Merle Travis (Rhino 70993)
Merle Travis - Rare Performances 1946-1983 (Vestapol 13012)

SAM and KIRK McGEE

photo by David Gahr

were one of the first
brother acts in country
music. Sam was one of the
most influential guitar styl-
ists in country music be-
fore Merle Travis and Chet
Atkins. He was born 1894
into a musical family and
learned to play fiddle, gui-
tar and banjo from his fa-
ther, an old-time fiddler.
Kirk was born in 1899 and
also learned fiddle, banjo
and guitar. Sam admittedly
was not too interested in
playing guitar until encoun-
tering black musicians play-
ing guitar in Perry, Tennes-
see, around 1919. His incorporation of syncopation, bent
notes and a heavy rhythm into country guitar was noteworthy.
Although he may be more noted for his years of accompany-
ing Uncle Dave Macon, his guitar pieces established him as a
truly great instrumentalist. Both he and his brother were early
members of the Grand Old Opry. “Railroad Blues” is a stun-
ning performance in the key of E . It influenced black and
white performers (The Anglin Twins, Turner Fodrell). “Wheels”
and “Victory Rag” are other fine traditionally-styled perfor-
mances. Sam McGee died accidentally in 1975 when the
tractor he was repairing fell on him. Kirk died in 1983.
3
MANCE LIPSCOMB, in

photo by Stefan Grossman

many ways, is the epit-
ome of traditional black
music as performed in
Texas from the early part
of the 20th century. A
local entertainer for 50
years before his dis-
covery in 1960, Mance
played in every genre
available to a dance
musician, from ballads
to breakdowns. Born in
Navasota, Texas in 1895,
he learned guitar from
his father, a local fiddler,
before he was eleven.
When his father left the
family, young Mance
found himself at age
sixteen the sole support of his mother and siblings. Playing
local dances, he managed to supplement his income as a
sharecropper and soon garnished a local reputation as a
musician. Mance learned from a host of musicians who
passed through his town until he had amassed an awesome
repertoire of blues, ballads, rags, religious and dance tunes.
In 1960, he was recorded by Arhoolie Records and began
performing at festivals, clubs and concerts, gaining critical
acclaim, until he died in 1975. “Take Me Back” is one of the
earliest Texas proto-blues, having been performed by Mance’s
peers Blind Lemon Jefferson and Henry Thomas, as well as
being retained by Lightnin’ Hopkins.
Texas Songster (Arhoolie CD 306)
You Got To Reap What You Sow (Arhoolie CD 398)
Mance Lipscomb In Concert - Video (Vestapol 13011)

ROSCOE HOLCOMB was born in Daisy, Kentucky, in 1913

and grew up in a musical family. The area featured regular
local gatherings with banjo, guitar, harmonica and dulcimer
player as well as unaccompanied Baptist singing, all of which
influenced him. He took a keen interest in his musical herit-
age, learning banjo by the age of ten and was constantly
learning local ballads and dance tunes. He moved to Hazard,
4
 Kentucky as a young

photo by David Gahr

man and worked in
the coal mines, play-
ing for square dances
on weekends. Hol-
comb often played
the guitar in an open
tuning like a banjo
(as on “Wayfaring
Stranger”) and sang
in a modal style re-
sembling vintage
Kentucky banjoist B. F. Shelton. When the mines closed after
World War II, Holcomb worked in lumber mills, construction
work and whatever job he could find. In 1959, he encoun-
tered John Cohen recording material for Folkways Records
and Holcomb recorded “The High Lonesome Sound”. A docu-
mentary film and several more albums followed with Holcomb
appearing at many concerts and music festivals in this country
and Europe.
The High Lonesome Sound (Smithsonian/Folkways)

ELIZABETH
“LIBBA” COTTEN
is one of the stron-
gest representa-
tives of pre-blues
photo by David Gahr

black music. She

was born in Chap-
el Hill, North Caro-
lina in 1892 and
began playing a-
round 1904, per-
forming tradition black rural music of the time. Never a
professional musician, Libba played for family, friends and
occasional parties. Left-handed, she played guitar upside-
down, her thumb picking the treble strings, her fingers the
bass. This unusual playing style became known as “Cotten-
picking” and influenced a number of young guitar players
when she began playing publicly in the 1960’s. Nonetheless,
her approach is very indicative of North Carolina-style guitar
playing. Her compositions are melodic and exude the charm
of a simpler era.
North Carolina Folk Songs And Tunes (Smithsonian/Folkways)
5
 ARTHEL “DOC” WATSON

photo by David Gahr

was born in Stoney Fork,
North Carolina, in 1923. At
an early age he became
blind. He was raised on a
farm in a large family
where he learned 5 string
banjo from his father and
taught himself to play gui-
tar and mandolin. A vari-
ety of old-time songs and
tunes were passed on to
him by his parents. He at-
tended the State School for the Blind at Raleigh and then
commenced to play music professionally in both traditional
and rockabilly ensembles. Ralph Rinzer of the Smithsonian
Institute encountered him in 1960 playing with Clarence
Ashley and recorded them, eventually persuading Doc to
appear at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963. His flat-picking
style was a revelation to young traditional guitarists and
became very influential. While Doc’s fingerpicking style bears
some resemblance to Merle Travis’s, it is firmly in the North
Carolina idiom although extremely personalized. “Deep River
Blues” is a Delmore Brothers tune while “Traveling Man” is
a turn of the century minstrel song that enjoyed a vogue in the
1920’s among both black and white artists. Doc Watson still
tours, playing concerts as well as hosting the annual Merle
Watson Festival.
MERLE WATSON ,
son of Doc Watson,
was born in 1949. He
learned guitar from
his father and Mis-
sissippi John Hurt.
photo by David Gahr

He developed inno-
vative arrangements
that still sounded tra-
ditional. In his duets
and playing with his
father, he often took the lead or offered imaginative solo,
such as the bottleneck accompaniment to “Got the Blues
Can’t Be Satisfied”. An all around musician, Merle was tragi-
cally killed in a tractor accident on his farm in 1985.
6
 The Doc Watson Family (Smithsonian /Folkways CD 40012)
Doc Watson and Clarence Ashley (Smithsonian /Folkways)
Doc Watson & Family (Vanguard 77001)
The Essential Doc Watson (Vanguard 45/46)
Doc & Merle Watson - Pickin' The Blues (Flying Fish 70352)
Doc & Merle Watson - Down South (Rykodisc 10008)
Doc Watson - Rare Performances 1962-1981 (Vestapol 13023)
Doc Watson - Rare Performances 1982-1993 (Vestapol 13024)
Doc & Merle Watson in Concert - Video (Vestapol 13030)

JOSH WHITE was one of

photo by David Gahr

the first traditional blues
artists to market himself
as a folk singer. Born in
Greenville in 1915, he
was inspired by Willie
Walker, the area’s great-
est ragtime guitarist and
a peer of Rev. Gary Davis.
His family was very reli-
gious, his father being a
preacher in the sancti-
fied church. As a youth
he acted as guide to
blind street singers such
as John Henry Arnold
and Blind Joe Taggart,
from whom he picked
up guitar. Taggart per-
suaded his family to let
the young Josh act as his
guide for a recording
session. At age 14, Josh accompanied Taggart on a Para-
mount date in 1928. By eighteen, he was a consummate
guitar player and was recording religious songs under his own
name and blues as “Pinewood Tom” for the American Record-
ing Company. By the mid-’30’s, he had moved to New York
and become involved in political and social causes as well as
the folk scene. By the 1950’s, he had become well-known as
a folk musician and enjoyed considerable popularity before
his death in 1969. Note that on his rendition of “John Henry”,
Josh uses a sustained vibrato which mimics the bottleneck
tone with which this piece is generally played.
Complete Recorded Works 1929-1940 (Document Records)
7
 BROWNIE McGHEE
and SONNY TERRY
were virtually am-
bassadors of tradi-
tional blues from the
mid-forties on, play-
photo by David Gahr

ing their traditional

East Coast styles at
home and abroad.
McGhee, born in
Knoxville in 1915,
began learning gui-
tar from his father after a bout of polio at the age of four. He
completed his high school education in Tennessee between
various hoboing trips, working on the streets, in carnivals,
medicine shows and dances. 1939 found him playing in
Burlington, North Carolina, where he encountered Sonny
Terry, then playing with Blind Boy Fuller. After Fuller’s death
in 1940, McGhee and Terry formed a partnership that en-
dured for over 30 years. Terry, born in Greensboro, Georgia,
in 1911, began playing harmonica at the age of eight. Early
on, he moved to Shelby, North Carolina. Losing his sight
through accidents, he worked medicine shows and on the
streets in tobacco towns for a living. In l934, he met Blind Boy
Fuller and teamed with him until the latter’s death. Terry
became involved in the New York folk scene as a result of his
participation in the 1938 “From Spirituals to Swing” concert.
Both he and McGhee moved to New York in 1940. For the
next fifteen years they maintained dual musical careers for
both black and white audiences. “Keys to the Highway” has
become a blues standard since its initial recording in 1940 by
Jazz Gillum, but the tune itself (“Crow Jane”) probably dates
back to the turn of the century.
Brownie McGhee 1944-1955 (Travelin' Man CD 04)
Brownie's Blues (Prestige/Bluesville OBCCD 505-2)
The Folkways Years 1945-1959 (Smithsonian/Folkways 40034)
Brownie McGhee & Sonny Terry Sing (Smithsonian/Folkways)

REV. GARY DAVIS was one of the greatest exponents of

Carolina guitar playing, taking it to virtuoso heights that few
of his peers could have matched. Born in Laurens County,
South Carolina, in 1896, he learned harmonica, banjo and
guitar before his teens. The blindness he suffered as an infant

8
 limited his career
choices and he be-
came a street mu-
photo by Stefan Grossman
sician. During the
First World War,
Davis played in a
string band in
Greenville that fea-
tured master guitar-
ist, Willie Walker,
and learned some
tunes from him and from other musicians he encountered
(such as Simmie Dooley). Davis played the gamut of black
and rural music that was available to him, of which blues was
only a part. In the late 1920’s, he moved to Durham, N. C., to
be close to his mother and became acquainted with Bull City
Red, Sonny Terry and Blind Boy Fuller. A recording session for
A.R.C. in 1935 first showcased Davis’ talents with ten reli-
gious and two blues performances, the latter were produced
with some prodding as Davis had fairly foresworn secular
music and was bound to be a minister. Disgruntled at the
money he received and disliking the treatment by the talent
scout, he was not offered any further recording opportunities
for over a decade. Joining his wife in New York in 1941, Davis
continued to sing and play on the streets of Harlem for over
a decade. At the beginning of the blues revival, he recorded
several albums, leading to an appearance at the Newport Folk
Festival in 1964. He taught scores of young guitarists in the
New York City area and as an inspiration, his influence was
tremendous (no less so than to the young Larry Johnson who
plays harmonica on this selection). Although South Carolina
guitarists seemed to be particularly technically accomplished,
Davis was nearly unsurpassed for the brilliance and imagina-
tion of his playing as well as the astonishing breadth of his
repertoire.
The Complete Early Recordings (Yazoo 2011)
Blues And Ragtime Guitar (Shanachie 97024)
Demons and Angels (Shanachie 6117)
Harlem Street Singer (Prestige/Bluesville OBCCD 547-2)
Say No To The Devil (Prestige/Bluesville OBCCD 519-2)
Rev. Gary Davis And Pink Anderson/Gospel, Blues
And Street Songs (Riverside OBCCD 524-2)
Pure Religion & Bad Company (Smithsonian Folkways 40035)

9
 RECORDING INFORMATION
MERLE TRAVIS
1. John Henry (Snader Transcriptions 1951)
2. Mus'rat (Snader Transcriptions 1951)
3. Lost John (Snader Transcriptions 1951)
SAM & KIRK MCGEE
4. Railroad Blues (The Wilburn Brothers Show 1972)
5. Wheels (The Wilburn Brothers Show 1972)
6. Victory Rag (The Wilburn Brothers Show 1968)
© 1994 Act IV Videotape Library, Inc. & Wild Oak Pictures Inc. All rights reserved.

MANCE LIPSCOMB
7. Take Me Back (KLRN-TV, Mance Lipscomb 1972)
8. Run Sinner Run
(University Of Washington Ethnomusicology Archives 1968)
ROSCOE HOLCOMB
9. Poor Wayfaring Stranger
(Homemade American Music 1980)
ELIZABETH COTTEN
10. Goin' Down The Road (Pete Seeger's Rainbow Quest 1966)
11. Mama, Your Papa Loves You
(Pete Seeger's Rainbow Quest 1966)
12. Freight Train (Laura Weber's Guitar, Guitar 1969)
13. Vestapol (Laura Weber's Guitar, Guitar 1969)
DOC WATSON
14. Deep River Blues (Masters Of American
Traditional Music, Seattle Folklore Society 1966)
15. Traveling Man (Masters Of American
Traditional Music, Seattle Folklore Society 1966)
DOC & MERLE WATSON
16. When I Lay My Burden Down
(BBC, Cambridge Folk Festival 1980)
17. Sitting On Top Of The World
(BBC, Cambridge Folk Festival 1980)
18. Got The Blues, Can't Be Satisfied
(BBC, Cambridge Folk Festival 1980)
JOSH WHITE
19. John Henry (1965)
BROWNIE MCGHEE & SONNY TERRY
20. Keys To The Highway (Pete Seeger's Rainbow Quest 1966)
REV. GARY DAVIS
21. I Belong To The Band (Lionel Rogosin's Black Roots 1970)

10
11 photo by David Gahr
Traditional fingerstyle guitar is particular of its
time and place, drawing heavily upon local
culture, but allowing for personal expression
and innovation. Most rural communities at
the turn of the century, especially in the
South, had their own musical practitioners
with stylistic similarities as well as shared
repertoire on stringed instruments. By the
time regional representation of rural black
and white music began appearing on record,
the guitar had become (in most places) the
premier instrument for its versatility and ex-
pressiveness. While some songs such as “John
Henry”, “Casey Jones” and “Sitting On Top of
the World” became standards almost upon
their inception, the manner in which they
were played could vary from place to
place (two radically different - yet still
traditional versions of “John Henry” by
Merle Travis and Josh White that appear
on this video, illustrate this).
Each of the artists presented here
are masters of fingerstyle guitar, whether
two or three finger picking, with or with-
out picks. With rare exception, most were
born around the turn of the century or in
its early years. From the Carolinas, Ken-
tucky and Tennessee to Texas, they fash-
ioned a deeply influential manner of play-
ing wrought from rags, blues, ballads and
native airs that permeated their times
and gave impetus to any musician, know-
ingly or not, who picks a string today.
Titles include: MERLE TRAVIS John Henry, Mus'rat. Lost John
SAM & KIRK MCGEE Railroad Blues, Wheels, Victory Rag
MANCE LIPSCOMB Take Me Back, Run Sinner Run ROSCOE
HOLCOMB Poor Wayfaring Stranger ELIZABETH COTTEN Goin'
Down The Road, Mama, Your Papa Loves You, Freight Train,
Vestapol DOC WATSON Deep River Blues, Traveling Man DOC &
MERLE WATSON When I Lay My Burden Down, Sitting On Top Of
The World, Got The Blues, Can't Be Satisfied JOSH WHITE John
Henry BROWNIE MCGHEE & SONNY TERRY Keys To The Highway
REV. GARY DAVIS I Belong To The Band
Vestapol 13004
Running time: 58 minutes • B/W and Color ISBN: 1-57940-957-1
Front photo by David Gahr
Nationally distributed by Rounder Records,
One Camp Street, Cambridge, MA 02140
Representation to Music Stores by
Mel Bay Publications
© 2002 Vestapol Productions
A division of
Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop, Inc. 0 1 1 6 7 1 30049 8