Merle Robert Travis, born 29 November 1917, was an American country singer, songwriter, actor, and guitarist. Born in Rosewood, Kentucky, his songs' lyrics were often about the lives and the economic exploitation of American coal miners. Among his many well-known tunes and recordings are "Sixteen Tons", "Re-Enlistment Blues", "I Am a Pilgrim", and "Dark as a Dungeon". He is best known today, though, for 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. 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 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. He is considered by some to be one of the most influential guitarists of the 20th century.
DISC ONE
1. Blue Smoke 2:28 2. Black Diamond Blues 3:07 3. On A Bicycle Built For Two 2:11 4. Saturday Night Shuffle 2:08 5. Bugle Call Rag 2:22 6. Tuck Me To Sleep In My Old ‘Tucky Home 2:30 7. Walkin’ The Strings (1954 Version) 1:53 8. Memphis Blues 2:37 9. The Sheik Of Araby 2:05 10. Blue Bell 2:21 11. The Waltz You Saved For Me 2:29 12. Walkin’ The Strings 1:43 13. Rockabye Rag 1:58 14. Nine Pound Hammer 2:41 15. John Henry 3:08 16. Sixteen Tons 2:53 17. Dark As A Dungeon 2:50 18. That’s All 3:02 19. Over By Number Nine 3:10 20. I Am A Pilgrim 2:53 21. Muskrat 2:38 22. This World Is Not My Home 2:50 23. John Bolin 2:56 24. Possum Up A Simmon Tree 2:39 25. Barbara Allen 4:04 26. Lost John 1:54
DISC TWO
1. Walkin’ The Strings 1:43 2. Little David Play On Your Harp 2:21 3. Saturday Night Shuffle 2:10 4. Thumbing The Bass 0;56 5. Cane Break Blues 1:16 6. Darby’s Ram 2:35 7. Everly Rag 0:41 8. Rose Time 1:38 9. Old Aunt Dinah 1:16 10. Old Kentucky Home 1:25 11. Pigmeat Stomp 1:18 12. Blue Smoke 2:02 13. Dry Bread 2:44 14. Louisville Clog 1:14 15. On A Bicycle Built For Two 1:33 16. Green Bay Polka 0:57 17. Jordan Am A Hard Road To Travel 2:33 18. Travis Trot 0:33 19. Canon Ball Stomp 1:25 20. Fuller Blues 0:52 21. Blue Bell 1:46 22. Take My Hand, Precious Lord 1:58 23. So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed 3:00 24. Cincinnati Lou 2:37 25. Sweet Temptation 2:55 26. Lawdy, What A Gal 2:53 27. No Vacancy 3:03 28. Three Times Seven 2:58 29. Divorce Me C.O.D. 3:01 30. Fat Gal 2:39 31. Kentucky Means Paradise 2:39 32. When My Baby Double Talks To Me 2:55 33. I Like My Chicken Fryin’ Size 2:46 34. Kinfolks In Carolina 2:26
DISC THREE
1. Black Gold 4:12 2. Harlan County Boys 2:47 3. Pay Day Comes Too Slow 5:31 4. The Browder Explosion 4:29 5. Bloody Brethitt County 4:02 6. Here’s To The Operator, Boys 2:48 7. Miner’s Wife 4:25 8. The Courtship Of Second Cousin Claude 3:52 9. Miner’s Strawberries 3:48 10. Paw Walked Behind Us With A Carbide Lamp 3:03 11. Preacher Lane 3:14 12. Dear Old Halifax 3:08 13. Corinne Corinna 2:31 14. Big Midnight Special 2:30 15. Bayou Baby 2:04 16. Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down 2:18 17. Guitar Rag 2:14 18. Blast Off 2:23 19. When It’s Time For The Whippoorwill To Sing 2:02 20. West Coast Blues 3:37 21. Mainstreet Breakdown 2:26 22. Kentucky Waltz 2:40 23. Gonna Lay Down My Old Guitar 2:22
DISC FOUR
1. Alimony Bound 2:59 2. A Fool At The Steering Whell 2:49 3. Get Along Blues 2:54 4. What A Shame 2:48 5. I Like My Chicken Fryin’ Size 2:46 6. I’m Sick And Tired Of You, Little Darling 3:00 7. Information Please 2:55 8. The Devil To Pay 2:46 9. Missouri 2:44 10. Leave My Honey Bee Alone 2:55 11. That’s All 2:37 12. You Tell Me Your Dream 2:24 13. Old Rattler 2:11 14. T For Texas 2:38 15. The Cat Came Back 2:46 16. Bye Bye Blues 1:58 17. Lawdy, What A Gal 2:09 18. I’m Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes 1:25 19. Blue Railroad Train 1:25 20. Roll On Mississippi 1:12 21. Groundhog 1:37 22. Petticoat Fever 2:41 23. Rikki Tikki Tikki 2:19 24. Sheik Of Araby 1:08 25. Hominy Grits 2:27 26. Nobody 2:11 27. Travis Stomp 0:57 28. No Vacancy 1:57 29. The Cat Came Back 2:15 30. I’m Gonna Move To the Outskirts Of Town 3:21 31. John Henry 2:20 32. Sweet Temptation 2:03