After the day we have had at Merlefest 2001 I think they may come up with a name for a similar syndrome for people who have been overexposed to too much of the best music in the world. My wife and photographer Lisa and I arrived at the hotel in Blowing Rock, 4.300 feet up in the mountains of North Carolina at 4am and after what felt like 2 minutes sleep headed off for Wilkesboro for a 9.30am press conference with our host for this huge event, Doc Watson himself. Lots more about Doc later. The first music of the day I managed to catch was from the Kruger Brothers , an unlikely ensemble in that they hail from Switzerland and have found themselves playing the music of the Appalachians through a sheer and

determined love of Doc Watson and his peers.
Next up was a songwriters showcase on The Austin Stage , another one of the 15 venues scattered in the grounds of the Wilkesboro Community College. At this stage, if you pardon the pun, the weather was beginning to take its toll and my pasty Donegal complexion was crying out for less sunshine and more music. So I adjourned to the Pit an indoor auditorium to see the amazing Jerry Douglas head a dobro workshop.
My dobro skills back on an even keel I wandered down to the Americana Stage and made myself ready to hear someone I had waited 20 years to see play live. During the wait I managed to catch the last couple of songs from old favourite George Hamilton IV.

Doc Watson took to the stage in the hot sunshine to a huge crowd of fans who's ages ranged from 8 to 80 and who all had an almost holy respect for a man who has an entire highway named after himself and his son Merle.

His band for the day included Michael Cleveland and Jack Lawrence. The highlight though for me was fiddler T Michael Coleman one of the sweetest and effortless fiddlers I have heard live in many years. The band led us through an hour of wonderful music from the ever-popular Black Mountain Rag to the obligatory songs of freight trains. A tear was in my eye when Doc left the stage and I realized that I had seen another one of my life's ambitions put to rest.

The day hadn't reached 3pm at this stage and I knew there was so much more to go. It was still early afternoon on a Friday and the list of things to hear and see was just beginning. You will get the full blow by blow report as the weekend goes on but now I am off to the hotel to iron my shorts for a long awaited and exciting press call with the fabulous Dolly Parton early tomorrow morning. Now which shirt should I wear?