Doc Watson: Free and Legal Music Downloads

Doc Watson, who passed away recently, played Appalachian strings music and was one of America's most respected folk artists.

Roger Wolmuth, a People magazine contributor said in 1987, "Watson's blizzard-quick flat picking and warm, mountain-clear baritone have ... established the soft-spoken Blue Ridge Mountain native as one of America's premier acoustic musicians."

Blinded by a childhood illness, the musician sometimes played on the street for change, when he wasn't working on his family's farm. After Watson became famous, a reporter asked him if he was ever ashamed of playing on the street. He replied, "No, I was selling something then, just like when you bought a ticket to get in here." He recounts, "That hushed [the reporter] up right quick." He also commented, "Blind people, most of them, are oversheltered. People don't understand. I went and did as I pleased."

[photo credit: Doc Watson (Photo by Austen Millkulka) via Wikimedia CC-BY-SA 3.0]

You can download free songs from Doc Watson through the site Freegal, which is provided by many public libraries. To learn more about this free service, click here: How You Can Download Free Music from Freegal

Freegal includes tracks from his albums Songs for Little Pickers and Rambling Hobo as well as recordings he made with the legendary Chet Atkins.

"Doc Watson." Contemporary Musicians. Vol. 59. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Gale Biography In Context. Web. 31 May 2012.