The street corner singer in Boone
As a girl growing up in Boone in the 1950s, my Saturday routine was to accompany my mother to her “hair-do” appointment in downtown Boone. Her hairdresser’s shop was on King Street, next door to Boone Drug and a few stores down the street from the Franklin Five and Dime Store on the corner.
Most Saturdays I would leave my mother having her hair done and walk to the corner store to “shop.” I would buy a pack of candy cigarettes (can you imagine this today?) or a box of new Crayola crayons.
More than the shopping, I recall the most wonderful guitar player who sat outside the Five and Dime. He would sit and play the better part of the morning. If I had extra money, I would place it in his battered tin cup. He was blind, and I was just amazed he could play so well. I also felt so sorry for him that he had to play music for his meager living. He never seemed to feel sorry for himself and was just a gentle soul that I could sense, even as a 7-year-old girl. Old timers can remember Paul Harvey and his “now you know the rest of the story.”
Well, the talented blind, gentle guitar player who got my nickels was soon to become the famous Doc Watson. As an adult, I have heard him play in concert several times, but I will always remember him in Boone playing on the street corner.
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