Article Contributed by Mountain Home Music Company
Published on October 31, 2025
Listen to it now and in Dolby Atmos spatial audio
“He just launched into ‘Working Man Blues,’ out of nowhere,” Bryan Sutton says of the memorable day some twenty years ago that he and American music legend Doc Watson recorded the opening entry in his From Roots to Branches guitar duet series. “It just felt like, I hope I got all that — I hope the tape didn’t run out!”
Heralding the serial release of the generous collection, which features the acclaimed guitarist paired with a stunning assortment of new-generation pickers leavened by musical conversations with friends and colleagues from beyond bluegrass, this rendition of “Working Man Blues” reveals a third strand to the evolving project — never-before-heard collaborations with some of the heroes of Sutton’s own six-string education.
Capturing that spur-of-the-moment performance (“I just had to pick that one time and hear what you did to it,” Doc chuckles at its conclusion), the intimate reading of Merle Haggard’s classic reveals the relaxed friendship of the two masters — along with, of course, a boatload of signature picking, as the pair trade solos between Watson’s warmly wry delivery of the blue-collar anthem’s verses. “You never knew what you were going to get with Bryan Sutton outside of fiddle tunes and bluegrass and folk ballads and things like that,” Bryan recalls. “From Crystal Gayle songs and ‘Nights in White Satin’ through all that ‘Docabilly’ stuff and swing tunes… Doc Watson was a fan of Merle Haggard, too, and probably knew more Merle Haggard songs than he ever played for anybody.”
Listen to “Working Man Blues” here.
“It was such an honor to know him,” Sutton continues. “I had forgotten he sang ‘Working Man Blues,’ and I was pleasantly reminded years later when I was going through the tracks. It’s all one take! I’ll forever cherish the time I had with Doc.”
“Working Man Blues” is now streaming in Dolby Atmos spatial audio on Apple Music, Amazon Music, and TIDAL.
To learn more about the From Roots to Branches project and upcoming releases, visit bryansutton.com,
