Doc Watson - Philadelphia Folk Festival, Old Pool Farm, Schwenksville, PA, 8-23-1968

If you've been following this blog a while, you may have noticed that I put a special emphasis on trying to post music from big rock festivals. Here's another example of that, though it's a folk festival this time.

The Philadelphia Folk Festival is one of the longest running folk festivals in the U.S., along with the Newport Folk Festival. It started in 1962, and it continues to this day (as I write this in January 2026). I've noticed that big portions, if not all, of these festivals have been professionally recorded. However, it seems only a few sets here and there leak out to the public, and almost none of it has been officially released. I noticed that there was an unusually big amount of recordings available to the public for the 1968 festival. I found enough material for six albums, all with soundboard quality, when most years I might find zero, one, or two. So I decided to focus on 1968, especially since I think it's important to try to save and share recordings of this quality that go all the way back to the 1960s. So here's the first album, a set by Doc Watson.

Here's the Wikipedia entry about him: 

"Arthel Lane 'Doc' Watson (March 3, 1923 – May 29, 2012) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues, and gospel music. He won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. His fingerpicking and flatpicking skills, as well as his knowledge of traditional American music, were highly regarded. Blind from a young age, he performed publicly both in a dance band and solo, as well as for over 15 years with his son, guitarist Merle Watson, until Merle's death in 1985 in an accident on the family farm."

Here's the link to the rest of the entry:

Doc Watson - Wikipedia 

This album is 26 minutes long. 

01 talk (Doc Watson)
02 When the Roses Bloom in Dixieland (Doc Watson)
03 talk (Doc Watson)
04 Anniversary Blue Yodel [Blue Yodel No. 7] (Doc Watson)
05 talk (Doc Watson)
06 Spikedriver Blues (Doc Watson)
07 talk (Doc Watson)
08 Otto Wood the Bandit (Doc Watson)
09 talk (Doc Watson)
10 Open Up Them Pearly Gates (Doc Watson)
11 talk (Doc Watson)
12 Southbound (Doc Watson)
13 talk (Doc Watson)
14 Bill Cheatham (Doc Watson)
15 talk (Doc Watson)
16 Blackberry Rag (Doc Watson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/qGTCSydV 

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/9Qg0i1qOYAxstWO/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert. The original was in black and white, but I colorized it with the use of the Kolorize program.