Doc Watson | photo by Hans Lehndorff

2 p.m.July 25, Lyons: Welcome clouds are taking the heat down (along with jumping in the creek) for the sold-out crowd on the final day of the 38th annual Rockygrass festival. Progressive banjoist Alison Brown and her band are about to take the stage after a traditional set from Junior Sisk.

It’s been a remarkable weekend of acoustic music including:

• “clawgrass” fusion banjo (clawhammer and 5-string technique); courtesy of Mark Johnson;
• a charming duo set between Hot Rize bandmates guitar whiz Bryan Sutton and multi-instrumental e-town host Nick Forster (filling-in for the injured Tony Rice);
• a brilliant set of modern twang from the Travellin’ McCourys with guest Dan Tyminski (from Union Station);
• and an always mesmerizing dose of old-timey, clawhammer-driven trance music from upstate New York’s Horse Flies.

Doc Watson | photo by Hans Lehndorff

But I’ll always remember Saturday’s soulful set with a frail-looking, 87-year-old Doc Watson the rest of my life. A bout with cancer has taken a toll on his voice and there were some lyrics he couldn’t recall and he talked about “goin’ home” but when he started flatpicking he nailed trademarked Doc runs like he did in the ’70s when I first saw him and his son Merle play. Doc is an American cultural treasure and we all felt lucky to be with him.

– John Lehndorff

What follows is video of some of the events this weekend taken by Cliff Grassmick: