Doc Watson’s Unreleased Recordings With Bryan Sutton

Marcel Ardans

When two generations of flatpicking royalty land on the same track it’s always special. This week, Mountain Home Music unveiled “Working Man Blues,” a never-before-released recording of Bryan Sutton trading licks with none other than Doc Watson, a quietly preserved moment from over twenty years ago. The single announces Sutton’s forthcoming record, From Roots to Branches, an album built on collaborations. Some pair him with younger guitarists; others, like this cut, rewind the lineage to the players who shaped his musical DNA. And few influences loom larger than Doc Watson.

If you’re a Lessons With Marcel regular, you know how rarely something new surfaces with Doc Watson in his prime, particularly in a setting that feels spontaneous and gritty. This is one of those gifts.

Workng Man Blues

The Merle Haggard classic “Working Man Blues” has long wandered at the edge of bluegrass circles, not quite a standard but not unknown by pickers. I once ripped off a finger nail hybrid picking the classic guitar riff on a steel string during a gig. In the same vein, this recording didn’t come from a carefully planned session, instead this version came the way the best Doc moments often did, completely unannounced.

“He just launched into Working Man Blues, out of nowhere,” Sutton recalls.
“I hope the tape didn’t run out! … It’s all one take! I’ll forever cherish the time I had with Doc.”

Doc was famously unpredictable outside the fiddle tune canon, drifting between swing, ballads, pop, and rock. Even gigging for years playing rockabilly and country before being discovered by the bluegrass scene at large. He knew far more material than he ever bothered to play on stage. That creative restlessness is front and center here, relaxed and full of humor. Meanwhile, Bryan is Bryan, articulate, effortless, and steeped in Doc’s vocabulary while clearly speaking from his own. You’re hearing a current great playing beside one of the architects of his sensibility. There’s excellent collaboration to be heard but more importantly, there’s lineage.

To celebrate the release, I’ve put together a Lessons With Marcel video where I break down Bryan Sutton’s first break phrase by phrase. Have fun with it and get the tab at the tab store if you want to keep practicing when the video is done.