The name Doug Rorrer is probably more familiar in old-time music circles than it is in atpicking or bluegrass. His roots run deep in the old-time music tradition. The Eden, North Carolina, resident says he grew up listening to his great uncles Charlie Poole and Posey Rorer on old 78s that were owned by his father. In the early days Doug aspired to play guitar like his heroes Roy Harvey, of Charlie Poole’s band, Riley Puckett, the famous blind guitarist with Gid Tanner’s Skillet Lickers, and Gene Meade, a rhythm man who played with a atpick in the style of R iley Puckett and was best known for accompanying the legendary ddler Clark Kessinger.
Although Doug has played old-time music his whole life, and continues to play that music today, he has also become an avid, and talented, atpicker due to Doc Watson’s inuence. Doug said he rst saw Doc on a Hootenany show in the 1960s and that it was Doc’s playing that really turned him on to wanting to learn how to play lead guitar. In the late sixties Doug’s brother, Kinney, was attending college in Boone, North Carolina—just down the road a piece from Doc’s home in Deep Gap. When Doug was still in high school he and Kinney sought out Doc and visited with him for a while at his home. Since that day Doc has had a great inuence on Doug’s music and, in fact, his newest CD Tradition was recorded as a tribute to Doc and Merle Watson. When asked what it was that attracted him to Doc’s music, Doug said, “Doc plays with soul . . . his phrasing, his time . . . he is the genuine article.”
Like most guitar players aspiring to learn to play like Doc in the late sixties and early seventies, Doug began listening closely to Doc’s recordings and trying to pick out the notes Doc was playing. During his junior year in college at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, Doug also met another bluegrass music enthusiast named Gene Wooten. Gene, who is now a very well known Nashville-based dobro player, became Doug’s roommate during their senior year in college and thus they had the opportunity to jam together frequently. During those college years, Doug also played in a band that was featured at the
Tweetsie Railroad, a local tourist attrac- tion.
After graduating from college, Doug initially went into radio broadcasting, but then became a career elementary school teacher. He held that position for 14 years and then became a school librarian for 6 years. He retired from the school system in 1995.
During his years as a teacher and librar- ian, Doug was still involved in music. He and his brother played in a number of old- time bands with Buck and Alice Easley and had the opportunity to play with Lonnie Austin and Norman Woodlieff, the former fiddler and guitar player, respectively, for Charlie Poole’s North Carolina Ram- blers. These bands played a wide range of music including old-time dance tunes, breakdowns, and big band numbers. Lonnie Anderson died in 1997 at the age of 92. Doug says that he learned a lot about back-up guitar work from Lonnie who, among other things, taught him about pass- ing chords and up-the-neck inversions.
Currently Doug performs in an old- time band called either Shooting Creek or the New North Carolina Ramblers, after Charlie Poole’s old band. This band features his brother Kinney on old-time banjo and Kirk Sutphin on ddle. Doug has performed at such prominent locations as the Chicago Folk Festival; the Heritage Festival in Elkins, West Virginia; the Blue Ridge Folklife Festival in Ferrum, Virginia; MerleFest in Wilkesboro, North Carolina; the Alaska Folk Festival; and the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend,
Washington. He has also conducted guitar workshops at a number of these locations.
In 1986, while still working as a school teacher, Doug started a recording company and record label as a sideline. He continues to work in his home based studio and produces CDs under his Flying Cloud label. Although he has recorded many notable artists from the southern Virginia/northern North Carolina region, such as John and Jeanette Williams, Doug did not put out a CD under his own name until 1997 when he recorded and produced his rst solo project
Under The Inuence. Doug explains that the title was a “play on words” because it was a tribute to all of the musicians who had had an influence on him over the years.
Based on the success of his rst CD, Doug went back in the studio in January of 1998 and began recording Tradition. He took his time with this project, going into the studio with various friends when they would be traveling through the area. He did not nish recording until October of 1998, but the wait was well worth it as he was able to get the likes of Wyatt Rice, Kenny Smith, David Holt, Bob Carlin, Wayne Henderson, Jeanette and John Wil- liams, Larry Rice and a host of others to come into the studio with him and record his tribute to Doc and Merle. Additionally, Doug’s fourteen year old son, Taylor, plays rhythm guitar on 7 of the tracks and not only does an outstanding job, but shows that the Tradition will continue in the Rorrer family.
Tradition
Doug starts off this CD with an absolutely awesome four minute and nineteen second version of “Cherokee Shufe.” This is one of my all time favorite tunes and Doug, swapping guitar licks with Wayne Henderson, gives flatpickers plenty of new material to chew on here. Larry Rice’s mandolin, Bob Carlin’s banjo , and the ddling of Jim Van Cleve add to the tremendous guitar work.
The next tune is the classic Delmore Brothers song “Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar.” When Doug starts singing this one
my ears perked up and triggered my brain to ask, “Is that Doc singing on this CD?” Doug’s voice has the same rich and smooth baritone sound that we have all come to know and love in Doc’s singing. Both Wyatt Rice and Kenny Smith add to Doug’s guitar work on this tune. Need I say more? Rice and Smith also join Doug on a great version of “Black Mountain Rag,” the sixth cut on the CD. Flatpick ddle tune enthusiasts will also enjoy Doug’s treatment of the jam session standards “Forked Deer,” “Bill Cheatem,” and “June Apple.” Each of these tunes features both Doug and Wayne Henderson on lead guitar.
In addition to the above mentioned instrumentals, where Doug shares the lead work with some other great guitar pickers, there are an additional four instrumental numbers, “Rock That Cradle Joe,” “Yellow Rose of Texas,” “Peeler Creek Waltz,” and “New Five Cent Piece,” where he stretches out and performs all of the lead work by himself. On all of these tunes, I nd Doug being very true to the tasteful playing we have all come to love from Doc Watson. He is not copying Doc’s licks by any means, but the same feeling is there.
In addition to the previously mentioned “Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar,” vocal numbers included are: “Make Me a Pallet,” “Keep On the Sunny Side,” “Carry Me Back To The Mountains,” “Sweet Sunny South” (sung by Jeanette Williams), “Write A Letter To My Mother,” and “Today Has Been A Lonesome Day.” Doug’s lead voice is smooth, rich, and very easy to listen to. The addition of John and Jeanette Williams on harmony vocals creates an even more pleasurable listening experience.
Doug Rorrer’s tribute to Doc and Merle Watson is highly recommended.
Doug Rorrer can be reached at:: Flyin’ Cloud Records
168 Glenridge Dr Eden, NC 27288
63 Flatpicking Guitar Magazine July/August 1999