That’s Watson’s story, and fans are sticking to it

Stories and songs have gone together since the days before music videos, moving pictures and even front porches. Long before there was a YouTube, there was a “your turn.’’

For Arthel “Doc’’ Watson, the folk guitarist who revolutionized the guitar’s role in traditional music, tunes and tales “belong together.’’ When audience members settle into their seats to hear Watson’s “Hills of Home’’ multimedia show Saturday night at the Paramount Theater, they’ll be able to hear not only a variety of traditional songs, but the stories behind them, and plenty of context to show how they fit into the complex fabric of American culture.

Watson will be sharing the stage with longtime musical collaborator David Holt, a fellow Grammy Award winner who’s known for his work as a banjo player and storyteller.

Holt, a historian who’s at home on at least 10 instruments, also is familiar to public television audiences as the host of “Folkways.’’

Grandson Richard Watson, also a guitarist, won’t be making the trip as a result of illness.

Doc Watson said that the concert will feature old-time music and some stories. Watson plans a solo set as well.

Numbers will range from traditional tunes with lofty mountain pedigrees to more contemporary choices from the 1950s and 1960s. Gospel and blues elements are stitched in. Appalachian fare will be well represented, and listeners can expect a variety of tempos and moods, from ballads to barn-burning guitar licks.

Just don’t expect any tunes of any type to be tossed in as fillers.

“I have my preference in music,’’ Watson said. “Songs that have something to say are the songs that I like.

“In my book of thinking about music and songs, the words have to say at least as much as the melody does.’’

Watson grew up surrounded by music in Stoney Fork Township, which is near Deep Gap, N.C.

“Music is a part of life,’’ he said. “It was from the time I can remember.’’

He thinks fondly of a wind-up Victrola his family brought home when he was 6 — a story he’s likely to share with listeners this weekend.

Just as some stories seem to sound better with each telling, good songs can stand the test of time.

“There’s music and songs that are just about timeless,’’ Watson said. “If a song says a whole lot, there’s a good probability it’ll be around for a while.’’

Watson’s accomplishments on the guitar definitely will be around for a long time. When Watson, now 85, was growing up, the guitar was a popular instrument, but it tended to play more of a supporting role as a rhythm instrument.

Watson changed all that by developing his own flatpicking style that emulated the soaring role of the fiddle. His innovations in melody and speed amazed audiences then and changed the way performers and listeners approached country, bluegrass and everything else that put a guitar front and center.

No wonder, then, that Watson has collected some revered honors over the years, including a National Medal of the Arts, a National Heritage Fellowship and the National Academy of Arts and Sciences’ Lifetime Achievement Award.

Listeners, of course, are as important a part of the equation in a concert hall as by the fireside.

Watson enjoys picking, singing and sharing his tales, and he’s open to the pleasures of light-hearted fare.

“There are fun songs as well as serious songs,’’ he said. “There are kids’ songs, too. If it’s a show where there’s a lot of children, you can fit one of those in there.’’

He cites “Froggy Went a-Courtin’ ’’ as an example. Originally written in England in the 1600s, and possibly making a nod to an even earlier song, the ditty makes light of the French Duke d’Anjou’s attempts to woo England’s Queen Elizabeth I by following a frog’s proposal to a mouse and the adventures that ensue.

Holt even picked up one of his own Grammys for “Stellaluna,’’ his collection of bat stories, so if you’re an animal lover who’s young at heart, you might want to keep your ears open.