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...FIRST SIDE of Then and Now is apparently "Now." It includes a pretty version of Townes Van Zandt's "If I Needed You," a fairly conventional love song that Doc and Merle's performance and a restrained string arrangement by Chuck Cochran turn from maudlin into lively. The Watsons are equally successful with Tom Paxton's "Bottle of Wine." Merle's instrumental arrangement "Bonaparte's Retreat" shows off not only the precision of his and his father's guitar playing, but also the unusually expressive fiddling of Vassar Clements. Clements demonstrates that a fiddle can make you feel things besides...
...Doc Watson is probably the greatest living flat-picking guitar player. His performances are invariably distinguished not just be occasional bursts of dazzling speed or by audience-winning tricks, but by an unerring sense of timing and mood which might enable him to make a country rendition of the Boston Yellow Pages sound interesting. His smooth, if not polished singing style offers relief from country singers who sound something like the cows they are singing about, and his interpretations of contemporary folk music are as successful and perhaps even more pleasing than his classic renditions of traditional country romances, evangelical...
Since 1964, Doc has toured with his banjo-and-guitar-playing son Merle, whose growth as a musician and contribution to Doc's music have been considerable. With Doc going on 50 and Merle not quite half that age, the younger Watson is still overshadowed by his father on guitar, but impressive on banjo and a promising arranger of country tunes...
Then and Now is the newest Doc and Merle Watson collection, and the first to give Merle equal billing with his father. It's only fitting, since after ten years the two play so well together, exchanging melody and harmony, lead and rhythm, foreground and background parts so cleanly and delicately that they produce what sounds like a single guitar playing impossibly intricate music. The sound is light, the rhythm flawless, and the product a source of inspiration to country-rock musicians from Jim Messina to Jerry Garcia...
...second side comprises a set of older songs, the most interesting of which is a rendition of "Frankie and Johnny," a chance for Doc, Merle, Vassar Clements, and dobro player Norman Blake to show off on brief solos. Again, in this set, the punctuation of the music with brief bursts from Clement's fiddle or from Doc's harmonica is often enough to make simple music interesting. The rest of the songs, though bright, energetic, and pleasant to listen to are less invigorating; they are so standard that they elicit no subtle vocal interpretation...