Bryan Sutton and Billy Strings Evoke the Legend of Doc Watson on “The Devil Went Down to Deep Gap”

After previewing the arrival of a new song earlier this week, Bryan Sutton and Billy Strings’ latest effort has culminated in “The Devil Went Down to Deep Gap,” a collision of acoustic and electric guitar and a brash departure from the duets that make up Sutton’s ongoing From Roots to Branches series. Today’s release builds on the Charlie Daniels Band’s original, creating a fictional narrative that shifts the instrumental focus from fiddle to guitar in a massive face-off, telling the story of Arthel Watson’s takedown of Lucifer, and an act that earned him the name “Doc.” 

“I had this idea a while ago to come up with some fake legend of how Arthel Watson became Doc Watson,” recalls Sutton. “It would be ‘the story that we never knew’ of Doc beating the Devil, and from then on, he’d be called Doc.”

“For whatever reason,” he continues, “I didn’t want to just do a fiddle tune with Billy, and then, he and I also have a whole live duets record, so I didn’t want to be redundant, either. We are big fans of heavy metal music, and we talked about it a lot but never really played much with each other. I thought ok, here’s this ‘Devil Went Down to Deep Gap’ concept, where we could at least start out with acoustic guitars and some twin guitar passages and take solos, but when the Devil does his thing, that’s where he and I would go into metal.”

As Sutton’s comments suggest, the track starts out with old-timey acoustics, a complementary entry that brings in longtime Watson bassist and harmony singer T. Michael Coleman, mandolin great Sam Bush, drummer Jerry Roe, and a special guest. “As things grew with this,” Sutton thinks back, “I thought, the way the story’s presented, I’m the narrator, and Billy plays the role of Arthel — Doc — and then who’s going to play the Devil? Del McCoury! Why not? And he was game to do it.” 

The battle for the gold guitar takes the viewer to the depths of hell, placing the metal purveyors’ ferocious instrumental damnation at the forefront. Completing their musical passage, the narrator steps in: “When the Devil finished, Arthel said, ‘Well, that’s pretty good there, son. But sit down in that chair right there, and let me show you how it’s done.’”

The relater continues, with the damn’s acceptance of defeat, “The Devil bowed his head because he knew that he’d been beat. And he laid that golden guitar on the ground at Arthel’s feet.” And, ultimately, the great Deep Gap bred musician’s title, as spoken in the video, “Devil, you can come on back if you want another shock. But if you ever show your face ‘round here… From now on, call me Doc.” 

“If there are boxes to check,” Sutton notes, “or a sweet spot in this beyond just being theatrical and kind of wild, it really is, at the end of the day, a Doc Watson tribute. In fact, when Billy and I were talking about it after listening to it at the end, he said, ‘You know, this is a gospel song! Like, c’mon, devil! I’ll show you!’”

“The Devil Went Down to Deep Gap” is streaming in Dolby Atmos spatial audio on Apple Music, Amazon Music, and TIDAL–Listen to it here.