Description

Ora Watson (1911-2008) played music for nine decades. Born in Watauga County, North Carolina, her father was a buck dancer and played the banjo, and her mother sang religious music and old British ballads. Her cousin Charles Isaacs was a fiddler. Like others of her generation, Ora was also influenced by radio and recordings. This album shows the wide range of her repertoire, which includes most of the genres played in the Southern mountains through the mid-twentieth century: fiddle and banjo tunes, ballads, hymns, minstrel songs, Tin Pan Alley, blues, early country and bluegrass. Ora could play banjo and guitar, but her favorite instrument was the fiddle. She formed her first group, the Isaac Sisters, at age 11, and played with various others over the years. She had a vivacious personality and was a performer at heart, cracking jokes onstage and off, and was known for being able to dance and fiddle at the same time. – Steve Kruger

Additional Notes: Ora Watson – Watauga County’s Senior Musician by Mark Freed

Ora Watson at Berea October 2001