Merle Travis
Encyclopedia
Merle Robert Travis was an American
country and western singer, songwriter, and musician born in Rosewood, Kentucky. His lyrics often discussed the life and exploitation of coal miners. Among his many well-known songs are "Sixteen Tons
", "Re-Enlistment Blues" and "Dark as a Dungeon
". However, it is his masterful guitar playing and his interpretations of the rich musical traditions of his native Muhlenberg County, Kentucky
for which he is best known today. "Travis picking", a syncopated style of finger picking, is named after him. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
in 1970 and elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1977.
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 that he had window-shopped for some time.
Merle's guitar playing style was developed out of a native tradition of finger-picking 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 finger picking 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 the 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 that moved to WLW radio in Cincinnati, the major country music station north of Nashville. Travis's 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 Delmores Book "Truth is Stranger Than Publicity" on pages 274-275 Alton describes how he taught Merle Travis how to read and write music) 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 Transcriptions, 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 (see below).
. Early hits like "Cincinnati Lou", "No Vacancy", "Divorce Me C.O.D.
, "Sweet Temptation", "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed
", and "Three Times Seven", all his own compositions, gave him national prominence, although they did not all showcase the guitar work that Travis was renowned for amongst his peers. His design for a solid body electric guitar, built for him by Paul Bigsby
with a single row of tuners, is thought to have inspired longtime Travis pal Leo Fender
's design of the famous Broadcaster in 1950. The Travis-Bigsby guitar now resides in the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum.
In 1946, asked to record an album of folk songs, Travis combined traditional songs with several original compositions recalling his family's days working in the mines. The result was released as the 4-disk 78 rpm box set Folk Songs of the Hills
. This album, featuring Travis accompanied only on his guitar, contains his two most enduring songs, both centered on the lives of coal miners: "Sixteen Tons" and "Dark as a Dungeon
".
"Sixteen Tons" (whose authorship has also been claimed by George S. Davis
) became a No. 1 Billboard country hit for Tennessee Ernie Ford
in 1955 and has been recorded many times over the years. Travis and Molly Bee
appeared together as guests on November 24, 1960, on NBC
's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford
. The darkly philosophical "Dark As A Dungeon", although never a hit single, became a folk standard during the 1960s folk revival, and has been covered by many artists including Johnny Cash
in his best-selling concert album At Folsom Prison
, by Dolly Parton
on her 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs
album and by Travis himself, along with Doc Watson
and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
in the landmark 1972 album Will the Circle Be Unbroken
. In spite of its initial lack of commercial success, Folk Songs of the Hills, with added tracks, has remained in print virtually ever since.
Travis was a popular radio performer throughout the 1940s and 1950s, and appeared on many country music television shows, co-hosting a show "Merle Travis and Company" with his wife June Hayden around 1953. He was a regular member of the Hollywood Barn dance broadcast over radio station KNX, Hollywood, and of the Town Hall Party, which was broadcast first as a radio show on KXLA out of Pasadena, California and later as a TV series in 1953-1961. However, his personal life became increasingly troubled. A heavy drinker and at times desperately insecure despite his multitude of talents (including prose writing, taxidermy, cartooning and watch repair), he was involved in various violent incidents in California, and he married several times in the course of his life. He suffered from serious stage fright, though amazed fellow performers added that once onstage, he was an effective and even charismatic performer. In spite of his problems he was respected and admired by his friends and fellow musicians. Longtime Travis fan Doc Watson
named his son Merle Watson, Glen Campbell
's country music-loving parents named him Glen Travis Campbell, and Travis admirer Chet Atkins
named his daughter Merle Atkins, all in Travis's honor.
Travis' string of chart-topping honky-tonk hits in the 1940s did not continue into 1950s, despite regular the reverence of friends like Grandpa Jones and Hank Thompson
, with whom he toured and recorded as lead guitarist (Thompson, who could pick Travis-style, even had Gibson
design him a Super 400 hollow body electric guitar identical to the one Travis began using in 1952.) Travis continued recording for Capitol in the 1950s, broadening his repertoire to include new guitar instrumentals, blues and boogie numbers. His uptempo single "Merle's Boogie Woogie" showed him working with multi-part disc recording at the same time as Les Paul.
He found greater exposure after an appearance in the successful 1953 movie From Here to Eternity
singing "Reenlistment Blues", and following the success of his friend Tennessee Ernie Ford
's million-selling rendition of "Sixteen Tons
" in 1955. His reputation as a folk-inspired singer-composer and guitarist grew after the appearance of the album The Merle Travis Guitar
in 1956, the reissue of Folk Songs of the Hills
with four additional tracks under the title Back Home
in 1957, and Walkin' the Strings
in 1960, the latter two of which won 5-star ratings from Rolling Stone Magazine. His career acquired a second wind during the American folk music revival
in the late 1950s and early 1960s, leading to appearances at clubs, folk festivals and at Carnegie Hall
as a guest of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs in 1962. In the mid 1960s he moved to Nashville and joined the Grand Ole Opry
. During this time he became a close friend and occasional hunting partner of Johnny Cash
.
, 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
and Marcel Dadi
. Today, his son Thom Bresh
continues playing in Travis's style on a custom-made Langejans Dualette
.
Although his early tutors were among the first to use the thumb pick in guitar playing, freeing the fingers to pick melody, Travis's style, according to Chet Atkins, went on in musical directions "never dreamt about" by his predecessors. His trademark mature style incorporated elements from ragtime
, blues
, boogie
, jazz
and Western swing
, and was marked by rich chord progression
s, 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 thumb pick 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." 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's style is well 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
.
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 70s 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
.
Although many of his original LP albums are still unissued on CD, Travis' posthumous discography continues to grow, due in large part to the efforts of independent labels. A live concert album Merle Travis in Boston 1959 released by Rounder Records
in 1993 documents Travis' singing and guitar work still at its peak. A major retrospective of Travis' work and career (Guitar Rags and a Too Fast Past, five CDs with an 80-page booklet authored by Rich Kienzle, who interviewed many of Travis's contemporaries) was produced by Bear Family Records
in 1994, and includes much previously unreleased material. The Country Routes label has issued several transcriptions of his radio broadcasts of the 1940s and 1950s. Several recent DVDs published by Vestapol and Bear Family have collected many of his music videos and television appearances. He was an honoree of the two-hour television special An Evening of Country Greats: A Hall of Fame Celebration in 1996, and two classic Travis performances were included in the four-part PBS television documentary American Roots Music in 2001, available in CD and DVD formats.
2. Snader Transcriptions (1951)
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
country and western singer, songwriter, and musician born in Rosewood, Kentucky. His lyrics often discussed the life and exploitation of coal miners. Among his many well-known songs are "Sixteen Tons
Sixteen Tons
"Sixteen Tons" is a song about the life of a coal miner, first recorded in 1946 by American country singer Merle Travis and released on his box set album Folk Songs of the Hills the following year...
", "Re-Enlistment Blues" and "Dark as a Dungeon
Dark as a Dungeon
"Dark as a Dungeon" is a song written by singer-songwriter Merle Travis. It is a lament about the danger and drudgery of being a coal miner in an Appalachian shaft mine. It has become a rallying song among miners seeking improved working conditions....
". However, it is his masterful guitar playing and his interpretations of the rich musical traditions of his native Muhlenberg County, Kentucky
Muhlenberg County, Kentucky
Muhlenberg County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 31,499. The county is named for Peter Muhlenberg. Its county seat is Greenville....
for which he is best known today. "Travis picking", a syncopated style of finger picking, is named after him. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame was established by the Nashville Songwriters Foundation, Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. A non-profit organization, its objective is to honor and preserve the songwriting legacy that is uniquely associated with music community in the city of...
in 1970 and elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1977.
Early years
Travis was born and raised in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky which would inspire many of Travis' own original songs. (This is the same coal mining county mentioned in the John PrineJohn Prine
John Prine is an American country/folk singer-songwriter. He has been active as a recording artist and live performer since the early 1970s.-Biography:...
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 that he had window-shopped for some time.
Merle's guitar playing style was developed out of a native tradition of finger-picking in Western Kentucky. Among its early practitioners was the black country blues guitarist Arnold Shultz
Arnold Shultz
Arnold Shultz was an influential African-American fiddler and guitarist who is noted as a major influence in the development of the "thumb-style", or "Travis picking" method of playing guitar.-Biography:...
. Shultz taught his style to several local musicians, including Kennedy Jones, who passed it on to other guitarists, notably Mose Rager
Mose Rager
Moses Rager was a guitar player from Kentucky. He is credited with creating the thumb-picking style of guitar playing - which he taught to Merle Travis.-References:*...
, a part-time barber and coal miner, and Ike Everly, the father of The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers are country-influenced rock and roll performers, known for steel-string guitar playing and close harmony singing...
. Their thumb and index finger picking 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 the 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
Evansville, Indiana
Evansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...
, leading to offers of work with local bands. In 1937 Travis was hired by fiddler Clayton McMichen
Clayton McMichen
Clayton McMichen was an American fiddler and country musician.-Biography:Born in Allatoona, Georgia, McMichen learned to play the fiddle from his father and uncle. He moved to Atlanta with his family in 1913, working as an automobile mechanic. While there, he entered and won several competitions...
as guitarist in his Georgia Wildcats. He later joined the Drifting Pioneers, a Chicago-area gospel quartet that moved to WLW radio in Cincinnati, the major country music station north of Nashville. Travis's 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
Grandpa Jones
Louis Marshall Jones , known professionally as Grandpa Jones, was an American banjo player and "old time" country and gospel music singer...
, the Delmore Brothers,(In Alton Delmores Book "Truth is Stranger Than Publicity" on pages 274-275 Alton describes how he taught Merle Travis how to read and write music) Hank Penny
Hank Penny
Herbert Clayton Penny was an accomplished banjo player and practitioner of western swing. He worked as a comedian best known for his backwoods character "That Plain Ol' Country Boy" on TV with Spade Cooley...
and Joe Maphis
Joe Maphis
Joe Maphis, born Otis W. Maphis , was an American country music guitarist. He married singer Rose Lee Maphis in 1948....
, all of whom became lifelong friends.
In 1943, he and Grandpa Jones
Grandpa Jones
Louis Marshall Jones , known professionally as Grandpa Jones, was an American banjo player and "old time" country and gospel music singer...
recorded for Cincinnati used-record dealer Syd Nathan
Syd Nathan
Syd Nathan was an American hillbilly, country & western and rhythm and blues record producer. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. He started the Queen record label in 1943. In 1947 it was renamed King Records. James Brown's first single "Please, Please, Please" was released on their subsidiary label...
, who had founded a new label, King Records
King Records (USA)
King Records is an American record label, started in 1943 by Syd Nathan and originally headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio.-History:At first it specialized in country music, at the time still known as "hillbilly music." King advertised, "If it's a King, It's a Hillbilly -- If it's a Hillbilly, it's a...
. 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
Hank Ballard
Hank Ballard , born John Henry Kendricks, was a rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, the lead vocalist of Hank Ballard and The Midnighters and one of the first proto-rock 'n' roll artists to emerge in the early 1950s...
, Wynonie Harris
Wynonie Harris
Wynonie Harris , born in Omaha, Nebraska, was an American blues shouter and rhythm and blues singer of upbeat songs, featuring humorous, often ribald lyrics. With fifteen Top 10 hits between 1946 and 1952, Harris is generally considered one of rock and roll's forerunners, influencing Elvis Presley...
and most notably James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
.
With World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and the threat of being drafted
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
, 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
Soundies
Soundies were an early version of the music video: three-minute musical films, produced in New York City, Chicago, and Hollywood between 1940 and 1946, often including short dance sequences. The completed Soundies were generally released within a few months of their filming; the last group was...
, 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
Jimmy Wakely
James Clarence Wakeley , better known as Jimmy Wakely, was an American country-Western singer and actor, one of the last crooning cowpokes following World War II...
and his Oklahoma Cowboys and Girls, including Johnny Bond
Johnny Bond
Cyrus Whitfield Bond , known professionally as Johnny Bond, was a popular American country music entertainer of the 1940s through the 1960s.-Biography:...
and Wesley Tuttle along with Colleen Summers (who later married Les Paul
Les Paul
Lester William Polsfuss —known as Les Paul—was an American jazz and country guitarist, songwriter and inventor. He was a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which made the sound of rock and roll possible. He is credited with many recording innovations...
and became Mary Ford
Mary Ford
Mary Ford , born Iris Colleen Summers, was an American vocalist and guitarist, comprising half of the husband-and-wife musical team Les Paul and Mary Ford. Between 1950 and 1954, the couple had 16 top-ten hits...
). His performance of "Why'd I Fall For Abner" with Carolina Cotton was chosen for inclusion in the 2007 PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
documentary Soundies. Several years later he recorded a set of Snader Transcriptions, 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 (see below).
Career peak
In 1944, Travis left Cincinnati for Hollywood where his style became even more renowned as he worked in studio recording sessions, radio and live stage shows, and landed bit parts and singing roles in several B Westerns. He recorded for small labels there until 1946 when he was signed to Hollywood-based Capitol RecordsCapitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
. Early hits like "Cincinnati Lou", "No Vacancy", "Divorce Me C.O.D.
Divorce Me C.O.D.
"Divorce Me C.O.D." is a 1946 song by Merle Travis. The song was Merle Travis' first release to make it to number one on the Folk Juke Box charts where it stayed for fourteen weeks and a total of twenty-three weeks on the chart...
, "Sweet Temptation", "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed
So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed
"So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed" is a 1947 song by Merle Travis, written by Travis, Eddie Kirk, and Cliffie Stone. The song would be his second number one on the Folk Juke Box charts where it stayed at number one for 14 weeks and a total of 21 weeks on the chart...
", and "Three Times Seven", all his own compositions, gave him national prominence, although they did not all showcase the guitar work that Travis was renowned for amongst his peers. His design for a solid body electric guitar, built for him by Paul Bigsby
Paul Bigsby
Paul Adelburt Bigsby was the designer of the Bigsby vibrato tailpiece and proprietor of Bigsby Guitars...
with a single row of tuners, is thought to have inspired longtime Travis pal Leo Fender
Leo Fender
Clarence Leonidas "Leo" Fender was an American inventor who founded Fender Electric Instrument Manufacturing Company, or "Fender" for short...
's design of the famous Broadcaster in 1950. The Travis-Bigsby guitar now resides in the Country Music Hall of Fame Museum.
In 1946, asked to record an album of folk songs, Travis combined traditional songs with several original compositions recalling his family's days working in the mines. The result was released as the 4-disk 78 rpm box set Folk Songs of the Hills
Folk Songs of the Hills
Folk Songs of the Hills is Merle Travis's classic collection of traditional songs from his native Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, including original compositions evoking working life on the railroads and in the coal mines. Each song, accompanied by Travis on his own acoustic guitar, is introduced by...
. This album, featuring Travis accompanied only on his guitar, contains his two most enduring songs, both centered on the lives of coal miners: "Sixteen Tons" and "Dark as a Dungeon
Dark as a Dungeon
"Dark as a Dungeon" is a song written by singer-songwriter Merle Travis. It is a lament about the danger and drudgery of being a coal miner in an Appalachian shaft mine. It has become a rallying song among miners seeking improved working conditions....
".
"Sixteen Tons" (whose authorship has also been claimed by George S. Davis
George S. Davis
George S. Davis , known as The Singing Miner, was a folk singer and songwriter who worked as a coal miner, and then as a disc jockey on local radio in Hazard, Kentucky from 1947 until 1969.-Career:...
) became a No. 1 Billboard country hit for Tennessee Ernie Ford
Tennessee Ernie Ford
Ernest Jennings Ford , better known as Tennessee Ernie Ford, was an American recording artist and television host who enjoyed success in the country and Western, pop, and gospel musical genres...
in 1955 and has been recorded many times over the years. Travis and Molly Bee
Molly Bee
Molly Bee , born Mollie Gene Beachboard, was an American country music singer famous for her 1952 recording of the early perennial, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", and as Pinky Lee's sidekick on The Pinky Lee Show.Bee was also well known in the 1950s in Los Angeles, California as a regular on...
appeared together as guests on November 24, 1960, on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford
The Ford Show
The Ford Show is a half-hour comedy/variety program, starring singer and folk humorist Tennessee Ernie Ford, which aired in color on NBC television on Thursday evenings from October 4, 1956 to June 29, 1961....
. The darkly philosophical "Dark As A Dungeon", although never a hit single, became a folk standard during the 1960s folk revival, and has been covered by many artists including Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
in his best-selling concert album At Folsom Prison
At Folsom Prison
At Folsom Prison is a live album by Johnny Cash, released on Columbia Records in May 1968. Since his 1955 song "Folsom Prison Blues", Cash had been interested in performing at a prison. His idea was put on hold until 1967, when personnel changes at Columbia Records put Bob Johnston in charge of...
, by Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
on her 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs
9 to 5 and Odd Jobs
Allmusic rated 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs four-and-a-half out of five stars. William Ruhlmann, who reviewed the album, stated that "most of Parton's albums are hard to recommend", but that "[the songs are] enough to put it a notch above most of Parton's RCA catalog." Critic Robert Christgau rated the...
album and by Travis himself, along with Doc Watson
Doc Watson
Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson is an American guitar player, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. He has won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded...
and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country-folk-rock band that has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California in 1966. The group's membership has had at least a dozen changes over the years, including a period from 1976 to 1981 when the band performed and recorded...
in the landmark 1972 album Will the Circle Be Unbroken
Will the Circle Be Unbroken
Will the Circle Be Unbroken is a 1972 album officially by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, but with collaboration from many famous Bluegrass and country-western players, including Roy Acuff, Mother Maybelle Carter, Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, Merle Travis, Bashful Brother Oswald, Norman Blake, Jimmy...
. In spite of its initial lack of commercial success, Folk Songs of the Hills, with added tracks, has remained in print virtually ever since.
Travis was a popular radio performer throughout the 1940s and 1950s, and appeared on many country music television shows, co-hosting a show "Merle Travis and Company" with his wife June Hayden around 1953. He was a regular member of the Hollywood Barn dance broadcast over radio station KNX, Hollywood, and of the Town Hall Party, which was broadcast first as a radio show on KXLA out of Pasadena, California and later as a TV series in 1953-1961. However, his personal life became increasingly troubled. A heavy drinker and at times desperately insecure despite his multitude of talents (including prose writing, taxidermy, cartooning and watch repair), he was involved in various violent incidents in California, and he married several times in the course of his life. He suffered from serious stage fright, though amazed fellow performers added that once onstage, he was an effective and even charismatic performer. In spite of his problems he was respected and admired by his friends and fellow musicians. Longtime Travis fan Doc Watson
Doc Watson
Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson is an American guitar player, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. He has won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded...
named his son Merle Watson, Glen Campbell
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell is an American country music singer, guitarist, television host and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.During his 50 years in show...
's country music-loving parents named him Glen Travis Campbell, and Travis admirer Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
named his daughter Merle Atkins, all in Travis's honor.
Travis' string of chart-topping honky-tonk hits in the 1940s did not continue into 1950s, despite regular the reverence of friends like Grandpa Jones and Hank Thompson
Hank Thompson (music)
Henry William Thompson , known professionally as Hank Thompson, was an American country music entertainer whose career spanned seven decades...
, with whom he toured and recorded as lead guitarist (Thompson, who could pick Travis-style, even had Gibson
Gibson Guitar Corporation
The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...
design him a Super 400 hollow body electric guitar identical to the one Travis began using in 1952.) Travis continued recording for Capitol in the 1950s, broadening his repertoire to include new guitar instrumentals, blues and boogie numbers. His uptempo single "Merle's Boogie Woogie" showed him working with multi-part disc recording at the same time as Les Paul.
He found greater exposure after an appearance in the successful 1953 movie From Here to Eternity
From Here to Eternity
From Here to Eternity is a 1953 drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann and based on the novel of the same name by James Jones. It deals with the troubles of soldiers, played by Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra and Ernest Borgnine stationed on Hawaii in the months leading up to the...
singing "Reenlistment Blues", and following the success of his friend Tennessee Ernie Ford
Tennessee Ernie Ford
Ernest Jennings Ford , better known as Tennessee Ernie Ford, was an American recording artist and television host who enjoyed success in the country and Western, pop, and gospel musical genres...
's million-selling rendition of "Sixteen Tons
Sixteen Tons
"Sixteen Tons" is a song about the life of a coal miner, first recorded in 1946 by American country singer Merle Travis and released on his box set album Folk Songs of the Hills the following year...
" in 1955. His reputation as a folk-inspired singer-composer and guitarist grew after the appearance of the album The Merle Travis Guitar
The Merle Travis Guitar
The Merle Travis Guitar was the first solo guitar album by Merle Travis, recorded in 1955 when Travis was at the peak of his performing abilities and released on January 1, 1956...
in 1956, the reissue of Folk Songs of the Hills
Folk Songs of the Hills
Folk Songs of the Hills is Merle Travis's classic collection of traditional songs from his native Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, including original compositions evoking working life on the railroads and in the coal mines. Each song, accompanied by Travis on his own acoustic guitar, is introduced by...
with four additional tracks under the title Back Home
Back Home (Merle Travis album)
Back Home is the original LP reissue of Merle Travis's first album, Folk Songs of the Hills , with four previously unreleased tracks and a new cover...
in 1957, and Walkin' the Strings
Walkin' the Strings
Walkin' the Strings was the first solo acoustic guitar album by Merle Travis, released in 1960 but recorded in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when Travis was at the peak of his performing abilities...
in 1960, the latter two of which won 5-star ratings from Rolling Stone Magazine. His career acquired a second wind during the American folk music revival
American folk music revival
The American folk music revival was a phenomenon in the United States that began during the 1940s and peaked in popularity in the mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, and performers like Josh White, Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Richard Dyer-Bennett, Oscar Brand, Jean Ritchie, John Jacob...
in the late 1950s and early 1960s, leading to appearances at clubs, folk festivals and at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
as a guest of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs in 1962. In the mid 1960s he moved to Nashville and joined the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
. During this time he became a close friend and occasional hunting partner of Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
.
Guitar style
Merle Travis is now widely acknowledged as one of the most influential American guitarists of the twentieth century. His unique guitar style inspired many guitarists who followed, most notably Chet AtkinsChet Atkins
Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...
, 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
Scotty Moore
Winfield Scott "Scotty" Moore III is an American guitarist. He is best known for his backing of Elvis Presley in the first part of his career, between 1954 and the beginning of Elvis' Hollywood years...
, Earl Hooker
Earl Hooker
Earl Hooker was an American Chicago blues guitarist, perhaps best known for his slide guitar playing. Considered a "musician's musician", Hooker performed with blues artists such as Sonny Boy Williamson II, Junior Wells, and John Lee Hooker as well as fronting his own bands...
and Marcel Dadi
Marcel Dadi
Marcel Dadi was a Tunisia-born Jewish French guitarist known for his finger-picking style which faithfully recreated the instrumental styles of American guitarists such as Chet Atkins, Merle Travis and Jerry Reed...
. Today, his son Thom Bresh
Thom Bresh
Thom Bresh is a country music singer. He is the biological son of Merle Travis.Bresh did not begin his music career until his adult years. From age 3 to age 17, he worked as an actor and stuntman at Corriganville, where such programs as The Lone Ranger and the Billy the Kidd trilogy were filmed...
continues playing in Travis's style on a custom-made Langejans Dualette
Del Langejans
Delwyn J. Langejans is an innovative American luthier. He handcrafts everything from reversible dualette guitars to harp guitars.A descendant of farmer immigrants from Bentheim, Germany, Langejans was born and raised in Holland, Michigan, where his luthier shop keeps him busy building guitars for...
.
Although his early tutors were among the first to use the thumb pick in guitar playing, freeing the fingers to pick melody, Travis's style, according to Chet Atkins, went on in musical directions "never dreamt about" by his predecessors. His trademark mature style incorporated elements from ragtime
Ragtime
Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, boogie
Boogie
Boogie is a repetitive, swung note or shuffle rhythm, "groove" or pattern used in blues which was originally played on the piano in boogie-woogie music. The characteristic rhythm and feel of the boogie was then adapted to guitar, double bass, and other instruments. The earliest recorded...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and Western swing
Western swing
Western swing music is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands...
, and was marked by rich chord progression
Chord progression
A chord progression is a series of musical chords, or chord changes that "aims for a definite goal" of establishing a tonality founded on a key, root or tonic chord. In other words, the succession of root relationships...
s, harmonics, slides
Slide (guitar technique)
A slide is a legato guitar technique where the player sounds one note, and then moves their finger up or down the fretboard to another fret. If done properly, the other note should also sound....
and bends, and rapid changes of key
Key (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
. He could shift quickly from finger-picking to flatpicking
Flatpicking
Flatpicking is a technique for playing a guitar using a guitar pick held between two or three fingers to strike the strings...
in the midst of a number by gripping his thumb pick 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." 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
Alternate bass
In music, alternate bass is a performance technique on many instruments where the bass alternates between two notes, most often the root and the fifth of a triad or chord....
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
Blind Blake
"Blind" Blake was an American blues and ragtime singer and guitarist.-Biography:...
, the foremost ragtime and blues guitarist of the late 1920s and early 1930s.
Travis's style is well 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
Tablature
Tablature is a form of musical notation indicating instrument fingering rather than musical pitches....
.
Late career and legacy
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 BandNitty Gritty Dirt Band
The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country-folk-rock band that has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California in 1966. The group's membership has had at least a dozen changes over the years, including a period from 1976 to 1981 when the band performed and recorded...
album Will the Circle Be Unbroken
Will the Circle Be Unbroken
Will the Circle Be Unbroken is a 1972 album officially by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, but with collaboration from many famous Bluegrass and country-western players, including Roy Acuff, Mother Maybelle Carter, Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, Merle Travis, Bashful Brother Oswald, Norman Blake, Jimmy...
introduced him to a new generation of roots music
Americana (music)
Americana is an amalgam of roots musics formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the American musical ethos; specifically those sounds that are merged from folk, country, blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll and other external influential styles...
enthusiasts. His 1974 album of duets with Chet Atkins, The Atkins - Travis Traveling Show
The Atkins - Travis Traveling Show
The Atkins-Travis Traveling Show is the title of a recording by Chet Atkins and Merle Travis. The two musical legends team up on 11 songs, earning the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance...
, 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
Harlan County, USA
Harlan County, USA is an Oscar-winning 1976 documentary film covering the "Brookside Strike" or "Bloody Harlan", an effort of 180 coal miners and their wives against the Duke Power Company-owned Eastover Coal Company's Brookside Mine and Prep Plant in Harlan County, Kentucky in 1973...
. Toward the end of the 70s he signed a new contract with the Los-Angeles based country music label CMH
CMH Records
Founded in 1975, CMH Records is a Los Angeles based independent country and bluegrass label with several subsidiary labels, including Vitamin Records, Crosscheck, Dwell, and Rockabye Baby!, which release diverse styles of music including string quartet tributes, punk, metal, and lullabies,...
, 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
Tahlequah, Oklahoma
Tahlequah is a city in Cherokee County, Oklahoma, United States located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It was founded as a capital of the original Cherokee Nation in 1838 to welcome those Cherokee forced west on the Trail of Tears. The city's population was 15,753 at the 2010 census. It...
home. His body was cremated and his ashes scattered around a memorial erected to him near Drakesboro, Kentucky
Drakesboro, Kentucky
Drakesboro is a city in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 627 at the 2000 census. Incorporated in 1888, the city was named for early pioneer William Drake.-Geography:Drakesboro is located at ....
.
Although many of his original LP albums are still unissued on CD, Travis' posthumous discography continues to grow, due in large part to the efforts of independent labels. A live concert album Merle Travis in Boston 1959 released by Rounder Records
Rounder Records
Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...
in 1993 documents Travis' singing and guitar work still at its peak. A major retrospective of Travis' work and career (Guitar Rags and a Too Fast Past, five CDs with an 80-page booklet authored by Rich Kienzle, who interviewed many of Travis's contemporaries) was produced by Bear Family Records
Bear Family Records
Bear Family Records is a Germany-based independent record label that specializes in reissues of archival material ranging from country music to 1950s rock and roll to old German movie soundtracks.-History:...
in 1994, and includes much previously unreleased material. The Country Routes label has issued several transcriptions of his radio broadcasts of the 1940s and 1950s. Several recent DVDs published by Vestapol and Bear Family have collected many of his music videos and television appearances. He was an honoree of the two-hour television special An Evening of Country Greats: A Hall of Fame Celebration in 1996, and two classic Travis performances were included in the four-part PBS television documentary American Roots Music in 2001, available in CD and DVD formats.
Albums
| Year | Album | US Country | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1947 | Folk Songs of the Hills Folk Songs of the Hills Folk Songs of the Hills is Merle Travis's classic collection of traditional songs from his native Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, including original compositions evoking working life on the railroads and in the coal mines. Each song, accompanied by Travis on his own acoustic guitar, is introduced by... |
Capitol | |
| 1956 | The Merle Travis Guitar The Merle Travis Guitar The Merle Travis Guitar was the first solo guitar album by Merle Travis, recorded in 1955 when Travis was at the peak of his performing abilities and released on January 1, 1956... (Instrumental Album) |
||
| 1957 | Back Home Back Home (Merle Travis album) Back Home is the original LP reissue of Merle Travis's first album, Folk Songs of the Hills , with four previously unreleased tracks and a new cover... (LP reissue of Folk Songs of the Hills plus some songs not released before) |
||
| 1960 | Walkin' the Strings Walkin' the Strings Walkin' the Strings was the first solo acoustic guitar album by Merle Travis, released in 1960 but recorded in the late 1940s and early 1950s, when Travis was at the peak of his performing abilities... (Acoustic Instrumentals and Songs recorded in the 40s and 50s) |
||
| 1962 | Travis (Compilation of songs recorded in the 40s and 50s) | ||
| 1963 | Songs of the Coal Mines | ||
| 1964 | Merle Travis and Joe Maphis | ||
| 1967 | The Best of Merle Travis | ||
| Our Man from Kentucky | Hilltop | ||
| 1968 | Strictly Guitar (Instrumental Album) | Capitol | |
| 1969 | Great Songs of the Delmore Brothers (with Johnny Bond Johnny Bond Cyrus Whitfield Bond , known professionally as Johnny Bond, was a popular American country music entertainer of the 1940s through the 1960s.-Biography:... ) |
||
| 1974 | Merle's Boogie Woogie + 3 (with Ray Campi Ray Campi Ray Campi is a distinguished musician often called The King of Rockabilly. Campi's trademark is his white double bass, which he often jumps on top of and "rides" while playing.... ) |
Rollin' Rock | |
| The Atkins - Travis Traveling Show The Atkins - Travis Traveling Show The Atkins-Travis Traveling Show is the title of a recording by Chet Atkins and Merle Travis. The two musical legends team up on 11 songs, earning the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance... (with Chet Atkins Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle... ) |
30 | RCA Victor | |
| 1976 | Guitar Player Merle Travis the Guitar Player Jimmy Wakely Presents Merle Travis the Guitar Player is a LP album by Merle Travis and Jimmy Wakely from 1976 on the Shasta label. The songs were recorded for Jimmy Wakely's CBS Radio Shows in the 50s with the exception of track 4, Bye Bye Blues, which was recorded in 1976.2002 Varese Sarabande... |
Shasta | |
| 1979 | Country Guitar Giants (with Joe Maphis Joe Maphis Joe Maphis, born Otis W. Maphis , was an American country music guitarist. He married singer Rose Lee Maphis in 1948.... ) |
CMH | |
| The Merle Travis Story: 24 Greatest Hits | |||
| 1980 | Light Singin' and Heavy Pickin | ||
| Guitar Standards | |||
| 1981 | Travis Pickin' Travis Pickin' Travis Pickin' is an all-instrumental acoustic solo album by Merle Travis released by the CMH Records label in 1981 as a LP recording. It has not been released on CD .- Side One :#Rose Time - 1:37... (Instrumental Album) |
||
| Rough, Rowdy and Blue | |||
| 1982 | Country Guitar Thunder (1977–1981) (with Joe Maphis) | ||
| The Clayton McMichen Story The Clayton McMichen Story The Clayton McMichen Story is a double LP album by Merle Travis and Mac Wiseman released by CMH Records in 1982. It has not been released on CD.-Tracklisting:#Give the Fiddler a Dram#In the Pines#Fire On The Mountain... (with Mac Wiseman Mac Wiseman Malcolm B. Wiseman , better known as Mac Wiseman, is an American bluegrass singer, nicknamed The Voice with a Heart. The bearded singer is one of the cult figures of bluegrass.... ) |
|||
| Farm and Home Hour (with Grandpa Jones Grandpa Jones Louis Marshall Jones , known professionally as Grandpa Jones, was an American banjo player and "old time" country and gospel music singer... ) (includes the 1981 re-recording of the instrumental "Rose Time") |
Posthumous albums
| Year | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Merle Travis Unreleased Radio Transcriptions 1944-1949 | Country Routes |
| 1994 | Guitar Rags and a Too Fast Past (5 CD-Set) | Bear Family |
| 1995 | Country Hoedown Shows & Films | Country Routes |
| Unissued Radio Shows (1944–1948) | ||
| 1998 | Turn Your Radio On (1944–1965) | |
| 2002 | The Very Best of Merle Travis | Varese Sarabande |
| 2003 | Boogie Woogie Cowboy 1944-1956 | Country Routes |
| In Boston 1959 | Rounder |
Selected compilations and reissues
| Year | Album | Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1990 | The Best of | Rhino |
| 1993 | Folk Songs of the Hills: Back Home/Songs of the Coalminers | Bear Family |
| 1995 | Guitar Retrospective (instrumental compilation album) | CMH |
| 2000 | The Best of Merle Travis: Sweet Temptation 1946-1953 | Razor & Tie |
| 2002 | Sixteen Tons | ASV Living Era |
| 2003 | Hot Pickin | Proper Records |
| 2005 | I Am a Pilgrim | Country Stars |
| 2008 | Merle Travis: The Definitive Collection | Delta Leisure Group |
| Legend of Merle Travis | Country Stars |
Singles
| Year | Single | US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
|---|---|---|
| 1946 | "Cincinnati Lou" | 2 |
| "No Vacancy" | 3 | |
| "Divorce Me C.O.D. Divorce Me C.O.D. "Divorce Me C.O.D." is a 1946 song by Merle Travis. The song was Merle Travis' first release to make it to number one on the Folk Juke Box charts where it stayed for fourteen weeks and a total of twenty-three weeks on the chart... " |
1 | |
| 1947 | "Missouri" | 5 |
| "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed" is a 1947 song by Merle Travis, written by Travis, Eddie Kirk, and Cliffie Stone. The song would be his second number one on the Folk Juke Box charts where it stayed at number one for 14 weeks and a total of 21 weeks on the chart... " |
1 | |
| "Steel Guitar Rag" | 4 | |
| "Three Times Seven" | 4 | |
| "Fat Gal" | 4 | |
| 1948 | "Merle's Boogie Woogie" | 7 |
| "Crazy Boogie" | 11 | |
| 1949 | "What a Shame" | 13 |
| 1955 | "Wildwood Flower Wildwood Flower "Wildwood Flower" is an American song, best known through performances and recordings by the Carter Family. However, the song predates them. The original title was "I'll Twine 'Mid the Ringlets"... " (w/ Hank Thompson) |
5 |
| 1966 | "John Henry, Jr." | 44 |
Music DVDs
- 1994 Rare Performances 1946-1981, Vestapol (with 36 page booklet)
- 2002 Legends of Country Guitar, Vestapol (with Chet Atkins, Doc Watson and Mose Rager)
- 2003 More Rare Performances 1946-1981, Vestapol (with 21 page booklet)
- 2005 At Town Hall Party, Bear Family
Music films
1. Soundies Distributing Corporation (1946)- "Night Train to Memphis"
- "Silver Spurs"
- "Texas Home"
- "Old Chisholm Trail"
- "Catalogue Cowboy"
- "Why'd I Fall for Abner" (with Carolina Cotton)
- "No Vacancy" (with the Bronco Busters and Betty Devere)
2. Snader Transcriptions (1951)
- "Spoonin' Moon" (with the Westerners and Judy Hayden)
- "Too Much Sugar for a Dime" (with the Westerners and Judy Hayden)
- "I'm a Natural Born Gamblin' Man" (with the Westerners)
- "Petticoat Fever" (with the Westerners)
- "Sweet Temptation" (with the Westerners)
- "Nine Pound Hammer" (with acoustic guitar)
- "Lost John" (with acoustic guitar)
- "Muskrat" (with acoustic guitar)
- "John Henry" (with acoustic guitar)
- "Dark as a Dungeon" (with acoustic guitar)
Film appearances as musical performer
- 1944 The Old Texas Trail (U.K. title: Old Stagecoach Line)
- 1945 When the Bloom is on the Sage
- 1945 Montana Plains
- 1945 Why Did I Fall for Abner?
- 1945 Texas Home
- 1946 Roaring Rangers (U.K. title False Hero) (with the Bronco Busters)
- 1946 Lone Star Moonlight (U.K. title Amongst the Thieves) (with the Merle Travis Trio)
- 1946 Galloping Thunder (U.K. title On Boot Hill) (with the Bronco Busters)
- 1947 Old Chisholm Trail
- 1947 Silver Spurs
- 1951 Cyclone Fury (with the Bronco Busters)
- 1953 From Here to EternityFrom Here to EternityFrom Here to Eternity is a 1953 drama film directed by Fred Zinnemann and based on the novel of the same name by James Jones. It deals with the troubles of soldiers, played by Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra and Ernest Borgnine stationed on Hawaii in the months leading up to the...
(vocal with acoustic guitar) - 1966 That Tennessee Beat
Other film appearances
- 1961 Door-to-Door Maniac (U.S. video title Last Blood)
- 1962 The Night Rider (TV film)
- 1982 Honky Tonk Man