Merle Travis
| Merle Travis | |
|---|---|
| Merle Travis | |
| Born | November 29, 1917 Rosewood, Kentucky United States |
| Died | October 20, 1983 Tahlequah, Oklahoma United States |
| Occupation | Recording artist, Guitarist and performer |
| Years active | 1936–1983 |
| Genre(s) | Country/Western Swing |
| Label(s) | King Records - Capitol Records |
Merle Robert Travis (November 29, 1917 – October 20, 1983) was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and musician born in Rosewood, Kentucky. His lyrics often discussed the exploitation of coal miners. Some of the songs he wrote or performed include: "Sixteen Tons", "Dark as a Dungeon", "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed", and "Smoke, Smoke, Smoke that Cigarette"; however, it is his masterful guitar playing that he is best known for today. "Travis picking", a style of guitar 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.
Early Years
Travis was raised in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, a coal mining county later made famous to country music fans by it prominent mention in the John Prine song "Paradise." Merle became interested in the guitar early in life, originally playing a home made version made by his brother. He later saved his money to obtain a store-bought guitar that he had window-shopped for some time.
Several local guitar players that drew Travis' attention. Mose Rager was his main inspiration. Ranger played a thumb and index finger picking style method which created a solo style blending lead lines (played with the finger) and a rhythmic alternating bass pattern plucked by the thumb (equipped with a thumbpick). This guitar style captivated several guitarists in the region. A part-time barber and coal miner, Mose Rager had learned the style from a musician named Kennedy Jones, as had Ike Everly, the father of The Everly Brothers. Young Travis learned from both.
In 1936, Travis performed "Tiger Rag" on a radio amateur show while visiting his older brother in Evansville, Indiana, leading to offers of work with local bands. He then spent a brief period with Clayton McMichen's Georgia Wildcats before connecting with the Drifting Pioneers, who performed on WLW in Cincinnati.
Travis's style reportedly amazed the people at WLW. He became a popular member of their barn dance show the "Boone County Jamboree" and worked on various weekday programs, often performing with other WLW acts such as Grandpa Jones, the Delmore Brothers, and Joe Maphis, all of whom became lifelong friends. In 1943, Tavis 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, they used the pseudonym "The Sheppard Brothers." It was the first recording ever released by King, known also for its country recordings by the Delmore Brothers and theStanley Brothers as well as R&B legends Hank Ballard and James Brown.
Career peak
In 1944, Travis left Cincinnati for Hollywood where his style became even more renowned as he worked on radio, recording sessions, and live stage shows. AFter recording on several small labels there, he was signed to Capitol Records in 1946. Hits like "Divorce Me C.O.D.," Sweet Temptation," "Steel Guitar Rag" and "Fat Gal" gave him national prominence, although they rarely showcased the guitar work that Travis was renowned for among his peers in the music industry. However, he exerimented with multi-part overdubbing on his "Merle's Boogie Woogie" at the same time that Les Paul was similarly engaged.
Travis' design for a solidbody electric guitar, built for him by Paul Bigsby with a single row of tuners, inspired longtime Travis friend Leo Fender's early guitar design. That guitar now resides in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Asked to record an album of "folk songs," Travis combined traditional numbers with originals recalling his family's days working in the mines. This including his most famous numbers: "Sixteen Tons" and "Dark as a Dungeon." The latter of which went on to become a standard during the 1960s folk revival. Dolly Parton also included a cover of it on her 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs album.
Travis's personal life was less sanguine. A heavy drinker and at times desperately insecure despite his multitude of talents, he was involved in various violent incidents in California and married several times. He also suffered from serious stage fright, even though fellow performers reported that once onstage, he was an effective and even charismatic performer.
His unique picking style spawned many followers, the most notable of whom was Chet Atkins, who first heard Travis on WLW in 1939 while living with his father in rural Georgia.
Travis continued recording for Capitol into the 1950s, finding greater exposure after an appearance in the 1953 movie From Here to Eternity playing "Reenlistment Blues", and especially when his friend Tennessee Ernie Ford recorded a million-selling rendition of "Sixteen Tons" in 1955. From 1944 through 1982 Travis appeared in 16 films.[1]
However, still plagued by substance abuse issues, he did not succeed in sustaining his commerical popularity, despite the reverence of friends like Johnny Cash, Grandpa Jones and Hank Thompson, with whom he toured in the 1950s.
Thompson, who often picked Travis-style, even had the Gibson guitar company design him a Super 400 hollowbody electric guitar identical to the one Travis began using in 1952. Longtime Travis fan Doc Watson named his son, Merle Watson, in Merle Travis's honor. Glen Campbell's parents named him Glen Travis Campbell in honor of Merle Travis.
Late career and death
Travis enjoyed a brief revival in the late 1970s with some recordings for CMH Records which showcased the guitar work he was renowned for, including Western Swing, re-recordings of his hits, and acoustic playing. He and his songs were also featured on the 1972 Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album, Will the Circle Be Unbroken. In 1983, Travis died of a massive heart attack at his Tahlequah, Oklahoma home. His body was cremated and his ashes scattered around a memorial erected to him near Drakesboro, Kentucky.[1] Today, his son Thom Bresh continues playing in Travis's style on a custom-made Langejans Dualette.
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