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:

1. Tony Rice All-Stars – Freeborn Man
2. Peter Rowan & the Nashville Bluegrass Band w/Jerry Douglas – Midnight Moonlight
3. various – chit chat 1
4. Tony Rice Allstars – Nine Pound Hammer
5. Tony Rice Allstars – Cold on the Shoulder
6. Tony Rice Allstars – Whitewater
7. Tony Rice Allstars – Molly and Tenbrooks
8. Doc Watson & Ricky Skaggs – Foggy Mountain Top
9. 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. Maura O’Connell – 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.
• 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