The flatpicking turned heads, but the tune that followed it might be a fingerstyle blues, a Travis-flavored country bounce or a parlor song from the Carter repertoire.
Watson, whose mother sang around the house and whose father was a banjo player and vocalist who led the singing at their Baptist church, was a fingerstyle player who used a thumbpick for bass and a fingerpick for the treble strings -- a "two-finger" style that was self-taught.