When the great North Carolina mountain musician Doc Watson began singing the Moody Blues’ "Nights in White Satin" at the Club Passim annual benefit concert in Harvard’s Sanders Theatre last Friday, laughter rose from the audience. But as Watson made clear in his introduction, where he didn’t name the song but explained it as the Dickensian inner struggle over unrequited love between classes that it is, he wasn’t joking. The 1972 art-rock ballad fits the canon of English folk songs that extend their branches into early American music. So perhaps the laughter was evidence that even in the less-hype-influenced world of contemporary folk music, the long-term efforts by record companies and radio conglomerates to erect barriers between musical styles for ease of marketability has paid off.
At 79, Watson is well beyond the point of caring about musical categories, and that made for a winning mix of bluegrass, blues, Jimmie Rodgers country tunes, the comedy of Homer and Jethro, romantic ballads about the Spanish main, and a hot jazz run through "Bye-Bye Blues." By his own admission, he’s lost a bit of the low end of his voice and some of his hearing in recent years, but the Sanders gig proved that his ready, homespun wit and his internationally renowned flat-picking style remain intact. Even during his most basic rhythm chording, his left hand danced like a spider on the fretboard of his Doc Watson–model Gallagher guitar, spinning little melodies into his turn-arounds and changes. He was joined on stage at first by his grandson Richard, who colored the music with pentatonic blues runs, and the for the second half of his set by his usual picking companion. Although Jack Lawrence is not gifted with a voice as sturdy and rich in character as Watson’s oaken instrument (which gives Watson the timeless authority of an Appalachian Moses), he is himself a talented acoustic guitarist with his own blazing fusion of bluegrass, country, and rock.
Watson first played Club Passim’s original incarnation, Club 47, in 1963. Geoff Muldaur, who preceded him on the bill, also has a history with the club that runs that deep, back to when he was a member of Jim Kweskin’s jug band. On his own he proved an entertaining blues, hokum, and jazz guitarist, with a sweet, high, pleasing voice. Newcomers Lori McKenna and Canada’s female trio the Be Good Tanyas rounded out the night. The Tanyas opened with an interesting if slightly precious fusion of folk with flourishes of textural music; they ended with a maudlin number about burying a pet dog. Boston-area rising star McKenna was best on Leadbelly’s "Goodnight Irene," applying her loud, lovely, clear-toned voice to a new melody for the chestnut. But her own songs mostly suffered from lapses in melodic development, unformed hooks, and occasional redundancy — none of which seemed to bother the enthusiastic crowd.
