Merle Watson Memorial Bluegrass Festival April 24-26, 1992 Wilkes Community College, Wilkesboro NC Partial compilation - 2021 transcription from "Pickin' For Merle" - The source was mid-90s cable TV broadcasts of "Pickin' for Merle" recorded to 5 cassette masters by 3 people - XLII and IIS made on generic consumer decks. - One source tape has an additional cassette generation. This material is tracks 52-66 below. - Transferred in the early/mid 2010s via Onkyo cassette deck and Audacity, then parked for awhile in hopes the VHS would surface. - Mastering and setlist in early 2021 by TRH aka Mr. Completely. See below for notes and lineup details. Setlist: ======== 01. Tony Rice All-Stars - Freeborn Man 02. Peter Rowan & the Nashville Bluegrass Band w/Jerry Douglas - Midnight Moonlight 03. various - chit chat 1 04. Tony Rice Allstars - Nine Pound Hammer 05. Tony Rice Allstars - Cold on the Shoulder 06. Tony Rice Allstars - Whitewater 07. Tony Rice Allstars - Molly and Tenbrooks 08. Doc Watson & Ricky Skaggs - Foggy Mountain Top 09. Skaggs & Rice - Where the Soul of Man Never Dies 10. Skaggs & Rice - More Pretty Girls Than One 11. Del McCoury Band w/ David Grisman - Fanny Hill 12. Del McCoury Band w/ David Grisman - Randy Lynn Rag 13. Del McCoury Band w/ David Grisman - I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue-Eyes 14. Tony Rice Unit - The Dusty Miller 15. Tony Rice Unit w/Peter Rowan - White Dove 16. Tony Rice Unit - Sally Goodin 17. David Grisman Quintet - Dawg's Rag 18. David Grisman Quintet - Assanhado 19. David Grisman Quintet - Grateful Dawg 20. David Grisman Quintet - Dawgmatism 21. David Grisman Quintet - Telluride 22. Tim & Mollie O'Brien & The O'Boys - Liar 23. Tim & Mollie O'Brien & The O'Boys - Dream of a Miner's Child 24. Tim & Mollie O'Brien & The O'Boys - Oh Darling 25. Tim & Mollie O'Brien & The O'Boys - Shut the Door 26. Tim & Mollie O'Brien & THe O'Boys w/Jerry Douglas - Hold to a Dream 27. Doc Watson & Ricky Skaggs - What is a Home Without Love? 28. Doc Watson & Ricky Skaggs - Nine Pound Hammer 29. various - Chit chat 2 30. Del McCoury Band w/David Grisman - Home is Where the Heart Is 31. Del McCoury Band w/David Grisman - Long Journey Home 32. Del McCoury Band w/David Grisman - Rain & Snow 33. Del McCoury Band w/David Grisman - Rawhide 34. Doc Watson & Friends - Blue Ridge Mountain Home 35. Doc Watson, David Grisman and Alan O'Bryant - What Does the Deep Sea Say? 36. Doc Watson, David Grisman and Friends - Blue Moon of Kentucky 37. Roy Bookbinder - Rev. Gary Davis story, Hesitation Blues/Old Time Religion 38. Peter Rowan - Dust Bowl Children 39. Peter Rowan w/Jerry Douglas - On the Wings of Horses 40. Bela Fleck and the Flecktones - Bonnie & Slyde 41. Bela Fleck and the Flecktones - Celtic Medley 42. Bela Fleck and the Flecktones - Flight of the Cosmic Hippo 43. Peter Rowan & the Nashville Bluegrass Band - High Lonesome Sound 44. Seldom Scene - Pickaway 45. Seldom Scene - Carolina Star 46. Seldom Scene - House of the Rising Sun/Walk Don't Run 47. Laurie Lewis & Grant Street - Singing Bird 48. Laurie Lewis & Grant Street - I'm Gonna Be the Wind 49. Various - Chit chat 4 - about Doc 50. Doc Watson - Milk Cow Blues 51. Doc Watson w/Gove Scrivenor - Sugar Babe 52. Doc Watson - Peach Pickin' Time in Georgia 53. Doc Watson - Black Mountain Rag 54. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - I've Been Looking 55. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Baby's Got A Hold On Me 56. Ricky Skaggs Allstars w/Doc Watson - Riding That Midnight Train 57. Ricky Skaggs Allstars w/Del McCoury - I Feel The Blues Moving In 58. Roy Bookbinder - Mississippi Blues 59. Carl Jackson and John Starling w/the Nash Ramblers - New Delhi Freight 60. Carl Jackson and John Starling w/the Nash Ramblers - Lonesome Dove 61. Carl Jackson and John Starling w/the Nash Ramblers - Silence Says it All 62. Carl Jackson and John Starling w/the Nash Ramblers - Hold Your Horses 63. Carl Jackson and John Starling w/the Nash Ramblers - For Cryin' Out Loud 64. Carl Jackson and John Starling w/the Nash Ramblers - I Could Cry 65. Carl Jackson and John Starling w/the Nash Ramblers - Long Time Gone 66. Emmylou Harris, Carl Jackson and John Starling w/the Nash Ramblers - Satan's Jewel Crown 67. Doc Watson All-Stars - Docabilly Medley 68. Riders in the Sky - Here Comes the Santa Fe 69. Kathy Mattea - Trouble in the Fields 70. Doc Watson All-Stars - Fireball Mail 71. Sam Bush & the Nash Ramblers - Crossroads > Sailin' Shoes 72. Laurie Lewis & Grant Street - Texas Bluebonnets 73. Tony Rice Unit - Shadows 74. David Grisman Quintet - Rattlesnake 75. Emmylou Harris & the Nash Ramblers w/Doc Watson - I'll Fly Away 76. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Mr Bojangles (start cut) 77. Peter Rowan & the Nashville Bluegrass Band - Walls of Time 78. Doc Watson All-Stars - Shake, Rattle & Roll Notes: ====== - "Pickin' For Merle" was a documentary shot at the 1992 Merle Watson Memorial Bluegrass Festival, then informally and now officially known as MerleFest. - It is possible some performances were recorded in 1991 (Kathy Mattea is only listed as performing that year) but the vast majority of the material is certainly from 1992. - The documentary aired in (I believe) 8-ish 1-hour segments through the 1990s on PBS stations. - VHS tapes of the entire series were offered as donor rewards. A few artists, including Tony Rice, sold their sets separately. - Apparently dubs of some of the video episodes have been traded but none have yet surfaced in public digital circulation aside from fragments on YouTube. - Several years ago I contacted MerleFest representatives to see about getting the series released again as a fundraiser. They were interested, but there are technical hurdles with the tapes. It's still possible. - This set of audio cassettes represents about half of the material. - I don't know which days most of the sets are from so I didn't try to guess. - You will encounter various hisses, buzzes, brief discontinuities and other assorted analog artifacts. It's fine though. It could be cleaned up more but hopefully the VHS will surface. - I decided not to change the running order to gather out-of-sequence sets since they aren't complete anyway. This is the order in which they aired within each PFM episode. - Across the tapes approximately 15 or so performances were repeated. Obviously, I included the better sounding ones. - Raw transfer WAV files available upon request. - I was lucky enough to attend this MerleFest and a couple of others around it. A classic scene. - There is also a well circulated SBD recording of the Midnight Jam from this year which I highly recommend. - Thanks to Mitchell Wittenberg for setlist and lineup help. - Yes, that's a lot of notes, but no one made you read them all. - Dedicated to the memories of Doc Watson and Tony Rice. Backing Band/Allstar Group Lineups (in order of first appearance - guests and headliners are noted in the Artist tag and above, with some overlap) ================================== * Tony Rice Allstars: Tony Rice-guitar, vocals, Bela Fleck-banjo, Jerry Douglas-Dobro, Sam Bush-mandolin, vocals, Stuart Duncan-fiddle, Mark Schatz-bass * Nashville Bluegrass Band: Pat Enright-guitar, vocals, Alan O’Bryant-vocals (and ?), Roland White-mandolin, Stuart Duncan-fiddle, Gene Libbea-bass * Del McCoury Band: Del McCoury-guitar, vocals, Ronnie McCoury-mandolin, vocals, Rob McCoury-banjo, Jason Carter-fiddle, Mike Bub-bass * Tony Rice Unit: Tony Rice-guitar, vocals, Wyatt Rice-guitar, Jimmy Gaudreau-mandolin, vocals, Rickie Simpkins-fiddle, Mark Schatz-bass * David Grisman Quintet: David Grisman-mandolin, Enrique Coria-guitar, Joe Craven-percussion, fiddle, mandolin, Matt Eakle-flute, Jim Kerwin-bass * Tim & Mollie O'Brien and The O'Boys: Tim O’Brien – mandolin, guitar, vocals, Mollie O’Brien-vocals, Scott Nygaard-guitar, Mark Schatz-bass * Doc Watson & Friends: uncertain, the "Friends" may be the Nashville Bluegrass Band (above) * Bela Fleck & the Flecktones: Bela Fleck-banjo, Victor Wooten-bass, Future Man-midi controller, Howard Levy-piano, harmonica * Seldom Scene: John Duffey-mandolin, vocals, John Starling-guitar, vocals, Ben Eldridge-banjo, vocals, Mike Auldridge-Dobro, vocals, Tom Gray-bass, vocals * Laurie Lewis & Grant Street: Laurie Lewis-fiddle, vocals, Tom Rozum-mandolin, fiddle, vocals, Peter McLaughlin-guitar, Craig Smith-banjo, Cary Black-bass * Doc Watson: Doc Watson-guitar, harmonica, vocals, Jack Lawrence-guitar, T. Michael Coleman-bass, Bob Hill-piano (on some tracks) * Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: uncertain lineup here. Maybe Jeff Hanna-guitar, vocals, Jimmie Fadden-drums, harmonica, vocals, Jimmy Ibbotson-bass, vocals, Bob Carpenter-keyboards, vocals, Josh Leo-guitar * Ricky Skaggs Allstars: Ricky Skaggs-mandolin, vocals, Tony Rice-guitar, vocals, Mark O’Connor-fiddle, Jerry Douglas-Dobro, David Grisman-mandolin, Unknown-banjo, Unknown-bass * The Nash Ramblers: Sam Bush-mandolin, fiddle, Larry Atamanuik-drums, Jon Randall-guitar, Roy Huskey, Jr. -bass, Al Perkins-Dobro * Doc Watson Allstars: Doc Watson-guitar, vocals, Jack Lawrence-guitar, T. Michael Coleman-bass; Jack Williams-piano (t67, t78); Mark O'Connor-fiddle, Jerry Douglas-dobro (t70, t78); Tim O'Brien-mandolin, Roland White-mandolin, Bela Fleck-banjo (t70) * Riders in the Sky: Douglas B. Green (“Ranger Doug”)-guitar, vocals, Woody Paul Chrisman (“Woody Paul”)-fiddle, vocals, Fred LaBour (“Too Slim”)-bass, vocals * Kathy Mattea - Kathy Mattea-vocals, guitar, unknown band lineup