3 Merle Travis CD's - Hot Pickin' - Guitar Retro.

Description: Merle Travis: Merle Robert Travis (November 29, 1917 – October 20, 1983) was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist born in Rosewood, Kentucky, United States. His songs' lyrics often discussed both the lives and the economic exploitation of American coal miners. Among his many well-known songs and recordings are "Sixteen Tons", "Re-Enlistment Blues", "I am a Pilgrim" and "Dark as a Dungeon". However, it is his unique guitar style, still called "Travis picking" by guitarists, as well as his interpretations of the rich musical traditions of his native Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, for which he is best known today. Travis picking is a syncopated style of guitar fingerpicking rooted in ragtime music in which alternating chords and bass notes are plucked by the thumb while melodies are simultaneously plucked by the index finger. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1977. Merle Travis was born and raised in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, a place which would inspire many of Travis' original songs. (This is the same coal mining county mentioned in the John Prine song "Paradise".) He became interested in the guitar early in life and originally played one made by his brother. Travis reportedly saved his money to buy a guitar for which he had window-shopped for some time. Merle's guitar playing style was developed out of a native tradition of fingerpicking in western Kentucky. Among its early practitioners was the black country blues guitarist Arnold Shultz. Shultz taught his style to several local musicians, including Kennedy Jones, who passed it on to other guitarists, notably Mose Rager, a part-time barber and coal miner, and Ike Everly, the father of The Everly Brothers. Their thumb and index fingerpicking method created a solo style that blended lead lines picked by the finger and rhythmic bass patterns picked or strummed by the thumbpick. This technique captivated many guitarists in the region and provided the main inspiration to young Travis. Travis acknowledged his debt to both Rager and Everly, and appears with Rager on the DVD Legends of Country Guitar (Vestapol, 2002). At the age of 18, Travis performed "Tiger Rag" on a local radio amateur show in Evansville, Indiana, leading to offers of work with local bands. In 1937 Travis was hired by fiddler Clayton McMichen as guitarist in his Georgia Wildcats. He later joined the Drifting Pioneers, a Chicago-area gospel quartet[4] that moved to WLW radio in Cincinnati, the major country music station north of Nashville. Travis' style amazed everyone at WLW and he became a popular member of their barn dance radio show the "Boone County Jamboree" when it began in 1938. He performed on various weekday programs, often working with other WLW acts including Louis Marshall "Grandpa" Jones, the Delmore Brothers, (in Alton Delmore's book "Truth is Stranger Than Publicity" on pages 274–275, Alton describes how he taught Merle Travis how to read and write music)[5] Hank Penny and Joe Maphis, all of whom became lifelong friends. In 1943, he and Grandpa Jones recorded for Cincinnati used-record dealer Syd Nathan, who had founded a new label, King Records. Because WLW barred their staff musicians from recording, Travis and Jones used the pseudonym The Sheppard Brothers. Their recording of "You'll Be Lonesome Too" was the first to be released by King Records, subsequently known for its country recordings by the Delmore Brothers and Stanley Brothers as well as R&B legends Hank Ballard, Wynonie Harris and most notably James Brown. With World War II and the threat of being drafted, Travis enlisted in the US Marine Corps. His stint as a marine was very brief, and he returned to Cincinnati. When the Drifting Pioneers left radio station WLW, leaving a half-hour hole in the schedule that needed filling, Merle, Grandpa Jones and the Delmore Brothers formed a gospel group called The Brown's Ferry Four. Performing a repertoire of traditional white and black gospel songs, with Merle singing bass, they became one of the most popular country gospel groups of the time, recording nearly four dozen sides for the King label between 1946 and 1952. The Brown's Ferry Four has been called "possibly the best white gospel group ever." During this period, Travis appeared in several soundies, an early form of music video intended for visual jukeboxes where customers could view as well as hear the popular performers of the day. His first soundie was "Night Train To Memphis" with the band Jimmy Wakely and his Oklahoma Cowboys and Girls, including Johnny Bond and Wesley Tuttle along with Colleen Summers (who later married Les Paul and became Mary Ford). His performance of "Why'd I Fall For Abner" with Carolina Cotton was chosen for inclusion in the 2007 PBS documentary Soundies. Several years later he recorded a set of Snader Telescriptions, short music videos intended for local television stations needing "filler" programming. His performances included playful duets with his then-wife Judy Hayden as well as several songs from his 1947 album Folk Songs from the Hills. Merle Travis is now acknowledged as one of the most influential American guitarists of the 20th century. His unique guitar style inspired many guitarists who followed, most notably Chet Atkins, who first heard Travis's radio broadcasts on Cincinnati's WLW Boone County Jamboree in 1939 while living with his father in rural Georgia. Among the many other guitarists influenced by Travis are Scotty Moore, Earl Hooker, Lonnie Mack, and Marcel Dadi. His son, Thom Bresh (1948–2022), had continued playing in Travis's style on a custom-made Langejans Dualette. Although his early tutors were among the first to use the thumbpick in guitar playing, freeing the fingers to pick melody, Travis' style, according to Chet Atkins, went on in musical directions "never dreamt about" by his predecessors.[12] His trademark mature style incorporated elements from ragtime, blues, boogie, jazz and Western swing, and was marked by rich chord progressions, harmonics, slides and bends, and rapid changes of key. He could shift quickly from finger-picking to flatpicking in the midst of a number by gripping his thumbpick like a flat pick. In his hands, the guitar resembled a full band. As his son Thom Bresh puts it, on first hearing his father as a child "I thought it was just the coolest sound, because it sounded like a whole bunch of instruments coming from one guitar. In it, I heard rhythm parts, I heard melodies, I heard chords and all this wrapped up in one."[13] Equally at home on acoustic and electric guitar, Travis was one of the first to exploit the full range of techniques and sonorities available on the electric guitar. Though Chet Atkins was the most prominent guitarist to be inspired by Merle Travis, the two players' styles were significantly different. As Atkins explained, "While I play alternate bass strings which sounds more like a stride piano style, Merle played two bass strings simultaneously on the one and three beats, producing a more exciting solo rhythm, in my opinion. It was somewhat reminiscent of the great old black players." The resemblance was no coincidence; Travis himself acknowledged the influence of black guitarists such as Blind Blake, the foremost ragtime and blues guitarist of the late 1920s and early 1930s. Travis' style is explained and exemplified by Marcel Dadi on the DVD The Guitar of Merle Travis, which includes live video performances by Travis of classics such as "John Henry" and "Nine Pound Hammer" as well as transcriptions of Travis solos in tablature. After a career dip during which he struggled to overcome alcohol and drug abuse, Travis put his career back on track in the 1970s. He appeared frequently on such country music TV shows as The Porter Wagoner Show, The Johnny Cash Show, Austin City Limits, Grand Old Country, and Nashville Swing; and his featured performances on the 1972 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album Will the Circle Be Unbroken introduced him to a new generation of roots music enthusiasts. His 1974 album of duets with Chet Atkins, The Atkins - Travis Traveling Show, won a Grammy award in the category "Best Country Instrumental," and a later album Travis Pickin' received another nomination. In 1976, he contributed to the musical score of the Academy Award-winning documentary Harlan County, USA. Toward the end of the 1970s, he signed a new contract with the Los-Angeles-based country music label CMH, which launched one of the most prolific recording periods in his career. The many titles that followed included new guitar solo albums, duets with Joe Maphis, a blues album, and a double LP tribute to the legendary country fiddler Clayton McMichen, with whom he had played in the 1930s. In 1983, Travis died of a heart attack at his Tahlequah, Oklahoma home. His body was cremated and his ashes scattered around a memorial erected to him near Drakesboro, Kentucky. Merle Travis – Hot Pickin'Label:Proper Records (2) – PVCD123Series:Proper PairsFormat:2 x CD, Compilation, RemasteredCountry:UKReleased:2003Genre:Folk, World, & CountryStyle:CountryTracklist1-1You'll Be Lonesome Too3:121-2Will The Circle Be Unbroken2:561-3No Vacancy2:381-4Cincinnati Lou2:351-5What A Shame2:441-6Missouri2:401-7Divorce Me C.O.D.2:581-8Nine Pound Hammer2:381-9Sixteen Tons2:491-10Dark As A Dungeon2:451-11Over By Number Nine3:071-12That's All2:581-13John Henry3:041-14I Am A Pilgrim2:491-15If We Never Meet Again2:541-16Over In Gloryland1:551-17Sweet Temptation2:501-18So Round So Firm So Fully Packed2:561-19Three Times Seven2:541-20I'm Sick And Tired Of You Little Darling3:011-21Steel Guitar Rag2:411-22Lawdy What A Gal2:501-23Sioux City Sue2:281-24Muskrat2:321-25Fat Gal2:352-1I Like My Chicken Fryin' Size2:182-2Merle's Boogie Woogie3:002-3When My Baby Talks Double To Me2:322-4Kentucky Means Paradise2:352-5I'm A Natural Born Gambling Man2:482-6Crazy Boogie2:462-7T For Texas2:192-8Blues Stay Away From Me2:352-9Philosophy2:252-10Start Even3:062-11I Got A Mean Old Woman3:062-12Guitar Rag2:242-13Cane Bottom Chair2:432-14Too Much Sugar For A Dime2:122-15Spoonin' Moon2:232-16Dry Bread2:352-17Lost John Boogie2:192-18Boogie In Minor2:252-19Deep South2:042-20Done Rovin'2:212-21Faithful Fool2:272-22Kinfolks In Carolina2:222-23Rainy Day Feeling2:182-24I'll See You In My Dreams1:512-25Cannonball Rag1:54Companies, etc.Pressed By – Disctronics Group, United KingdomCreditsCompilation Producer – Joop Visser ProductionsLiner Notes, Compiled By – Adam KomorowskiNotesThe barcode appears on the slipcase which holds the jewel case.Barcode and Other IdentifiersBarcode (Barcode on outer slipcase): 8 05520 05123 1Matrix / Runout (Disc One): DISCTRONICS PVCD 123 ONE 01Mastering SID Code (DISC ONE): IFPI L506Mould SID Code (DISC ONE): IFPI 8727Matrix / Runout (DISC TWO): DISCTRONICS PVCD 123 TWO 01Mastering SID Code (DISC TWO): IFPI L502Mould SID Code: IFPI 8727 ___________________________________________________________________ Merle Travis – The Best Of Merle Travis: Sweet Temptation (1946-1953) Label:Razor & Tie – 7930182214-2Format:CD, CompilationCountry:USReleased:2000Genre:Blues, Folk, World, & CountryStyle:CountryTrack list:1Cincinnati Lou2No Vacancy3Divorce Me C.O.D.4So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed5Sixteen Tons6Steel Guitar Rag7Blue Yodel No. 1 (T For Texas)8Any Old Time9Three Times Seven10Kentucky Means Paradise11Sweet Temptation12Fat Gal13Dry Bread14Cannon Ball Rag15Lawdy, What A Gal16Guitar Rag17Deep South18Re-Enlistment Blues19Kinfolks In Carolina20I'll See You In My DreamsNotesOriginally recorded for Capitol Records from 1946-1953.Barcode and Other IdentifiersBarcode: 79301822142 ______________________ Merle Travis – Guitar RetrospectiveLabel:CMH Records – CD-8009Format:CD, Album, CompilationCountry:USReleased:1995Genre:Folk, World, & CountryStyle:CountryTrack list:1White Heat2High NoonGuitar – Joe MaphisGuitar – Joe Maphis3Lonesome Road BluesGuitar – Joe MaphisGuitar – Joe Maphis4Bye Bye Blues5Cannonball RagGuitar – Joe MaphisGuitar – Joe Maphis6La Marcha De Los Mexicanos7After You've Gone8Love Letters In The Sand9Mack The Knife10I'll See You In My Dreams11Back In The Saddle AgainGuitar – Joe MaphisGuitar – Joe Maphis12Liza13Swanee14El Rancho GrandeGuitar – Joe MaphisGuitar – Joe Maphis15The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise16I Saw The LightGuitar – Joe MaphisGuitar – Joe Maphis17Dance Of The Goldenrod18If I Had You19On The Jericho Road20Guitar RagGuitar – Joe MaphisGuitar – Joe MaphisCreditsGuitar – Merle TravisBarcode and Other IdentifiersBarcode: 027297800922

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