Customer Reviews

Riding the Midnight Train

5 star:		(4)
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The album starts off with a great bluegrass number. Your attention is captured for the entire album. A great blend of folk and bluegrass tunes. Doc's singing is in top form here. The harmonies are quite satisfying too. The selection of songs are plenty of fun here. They also bring out some serious mood reflections in the listener. This is a must album for any serious Doc Watson fan.

You will love Docs Picking and singing here. As always, he turns in a great perfromance. This is old time country music at its best.

dobroman in Denver

The album many waited years for... Doc doing bluegrass... yet, it's more than that.
Rousing bluegrass numbers like the title cut, "The Old Home", "Sweet Heaven When I Die", country/folk/old-timey tunes like "Greenville Trestle High", "Ramshackle Shack", "Let the Church Roll On", and of course, the album wouldn't be complete without the required Doc Watson jaw-dropping instrumental "rag" ("Stone's Rag"). Doc is probably my favorite guitar player of all time, he's one of those guys that kind of make me feel like converting my guitar into firewood, his playing is so smooth and precise. Dammit Doc, couldn't you even mess up a note just once in a while to prove you're human? Anyway, add to this his wonderful gravelly vocals (never sounded better) and Merle Watson's superb backup and you have here a "must own" for any fan of Doc, of Bluegrass/Country/Gospel/Old-Timey, or just plain great music period.

I believe this is the last recording of Doc Watson with his son Merle, who was tragically killed the following year. Most of the CD contains train songs.

This CD is also special because the picture was taken at Spencer Railroad shops, and i live ten miles from Spencer. Spencer Shops is a legend in many old time songs, and the wreck of the old 97, Spencer was the destination the train was headed before the fateful wreck.

Doc is joined by many talented musicians, and Merle's picking is outstanding. I played the cassette so many times, I recently purchased the CD. The memory of Merle is alive and well.