Doc Watson at Gerde's Folk City is the title of live recordings by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 and country blues

Country blues

Country blues is a general term that refers to all the acoustic, mainly guitar-driven forms of the blues. It often incorporated elements of rural gospel, ragtime, hillbilly, and dixieland jazz...

 artist Doc Watson

Doc Watson

Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson is an American guitar player, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. He has won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded...

, released in 2001. The recordings are of Watson's first solo public performances, recorded in 1962 and 1963 at Gerde's Folk City

Gerde's Folk City

Gerdes Folk City was a music venue in the West Village in New York City. Initially opened as a restaurant called Gerdes, by owner Mike Porco, it eventually began to present occasional incidental music. It was located at 11 West 4th Street , having moved in 1970 to 130 West 3rd Street before finally...

. The tracks were never released prior to 2001.

Reception

Writing for Allmusic, music critic Rick Anderson wrote of the album "... what is consistently striking is his mastery of the stage and the warmth and gentle virtuosity of his playing — attributes that would later come to define his art, but which are remarkable in an artist performing solo for the first time... Highly recommended."

Track listing

1. "Little Sadie" (Traditional) – 2:23
2. "Blue Smoke" (Merle Travis
   Merle Travis
   Merle Robert Travis was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and musician born in Rosewood, Kentucky. His lyrics often discussed the life and exploitation of coal miners. Among his many well-known songs are "Sixteen Tons", "Re-Enlistment Blues" and "Dark as a Dungeon"...
   
   ) – 2:12
3. "St. Louis Blues" (W. C. Handy
   W. C. Handy
   William Christopher Handy was a blues composer and musician. He was widely known as the "Father of the Blues"....
   
   ) – 2:36
4. "John Herald Introduction" – 0:39
5. "Sing Song Kitty" – 2:51
6. "The House Carpenter
   The Daemon Lover
   "The Daemon Lover", also known as "James Harris", "James Herries", or "The House Carpenter" is a popular English ballad. It tells the story of a man , who returns to a former lover after a very long absence, and finds her with a husband and a baby...
   
   " (Traditional) – 4:30
7. "Liberty" (Traditional) – 1:46
8. "The Old Wooden Rocker" (Kincaid) – 3:06
9. "Milk Cow Blues" (Kokomo Arnold
   Kokomo Arnold
   Kokomo Arnold was an American blues musician.Born as James Arnold in Lovejoy's Station, Georgia, he got his nickname in 1934 after releasing "Old Original Kokomo Blues" for the Decca label; it was a cover of the Scrapper Blackwell blues song about the city of Kokomo, Indiana...
   
   ) – 2:10
10. "Tragic Romance" (Jones) – 3:59
11. "The Dream of the Miner's Child" (Andrew Jenkins) – 3:07
12. "The Wagoner's Lad" – 3:20
13. "Cannonball Rag" (Merle Travis) – 1:54
14. "The Lone Pilgrim" – 4:27
15. "The Roving Gambler" – 2:28

Personnel

• Doc Watson – guitar, banjo, mandolin, harmonica, vocals
• Bob Yellen – banjo
• John Herald
  John Herald
  John Herald was an American folk and bluegrass songwriter, solo and studio musician, and one-time member of The Greenbriar Boys trio.-Biography:...
  
   – guitar, vocals
• The Greenbriar Boys
  The Greenbriar Boys
  The Greenbriar Boys were a seminal northern bluegrass music group who first got together in jam sessions in New York's Washington Square Park. Along with the New Lost City Ramblers, their urban traditional country sound inspired a generation of musicians and fans.-Biography:In 1959,...
  
  

Production notes:

• Producer, liner notes, mastering by Peter K. Siegel
• Photography by John Cohen and David Gahr
  David Gahr
  David Gahr was an American photographer. He was one of "the pre-eminent photographers of American folk, blues, jazz and rock musicians of the 1960s and beyond." ....
  
  , George Pickow
• Mastering by David Glasser