David Holt
David Holt is a musician and storyteller who has spent his life collecting and performing the traditional music and tales of the southern Appalachians. He plays around ten acoustic instruments and is best known for his years on stage and record with Doc Watson.
- Born
- 15 October 1946, Gatesville, Texas
- Plays
- Banjo, guitar, harmonica, fiddle, jaw harp and more
- Partner
- Doc Watson, 1998–2012
- Awards
- Grammy winner; Emmy awards for television work
Career
Holt's first albums, It Just Suits Me and The Hairy Man and Other Tales, came out in 1981, mixing old-time tunes with spoken stories. Reel & Rock (1986), made with Doc and Merle Watson, won the NAIRD Folk Record of the Year award. From 1998 to 2012 he toured and recorded with Doc Watson, and Legacy (2002), a set of their music and conversation, won a Grammy, as did his children's recording Stellaluna (2000).
He is also a broadcaster: he hosted Folkways, a television series on folk music and culture, the public radio programme Riverwalk, and later David Holt's State of Music on PBS.
Selected albums
| Year | Album |
|---|---|
| 1986 | Reel & Rock, with Doc and Merle Watson |
| 1994 | I Got a Bullfrog: Folksongs for the Fun of It |
| 2000 | Stellaluna |
| 2002 | Legacy, with Doc Watson |
| 2009 | Cutting Loose, with Josh Goforth |
Try the instruments he plays: our guides to the banjo, jaw harp and fiddle.