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

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

Paul says: 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.

This album is 26 minutes long. 

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