Merle Travis - Giving You Country! (Remastered) '2021

Tracks list

Tracklist:

01. Sixteen Tons (Remastered)
02. Dark as a Dungeon (Remastered)
03. Divorce Me C.O.D. (Remastered)
04. Nine Pound Hammer (Remastered)
05. Cincinnati Lou (Remastered)
06. No Vacancy (Remastered)
07. Missouri (Remastered)
08. So Round! so Firm! so Fully Packed! (Remastered)
09. Steel Guitar Rag (Remastered)
10. Three Times Seven (Remastered)
11. Fat Gal (Remastered)
12. Merles Boogie Woogie (Remastered)
13. Crazy Boogie (Remastered)
14. What a Shame (Remastered)
15. Sweet Temptation (Remastered)
16. Alimony Bound (Remastered)
17. Im Sick and Tired of You (Remastered)
18. I Like My Chicken Fryin Size (Remastered)
19. Kentucky Means Paradise (Remastered)
20. Information Please (Remastered)
21. Kinfolks in Carolina (Remastered)
22. A Too Fast Past (Remastered)
23. Gamblers Guitar (Remastered)
24. John Henry (Remastered)
25. Over by Number Nine (Remastered)
26. Thats All (Remastered)
27. Muskrat (Remastered)
28. I Am a Pilgrim (Remastered)


 Read MoreHis first break came during a visit to his brothers home in
Evansville, Indiana, in 1935, where his chance to entertain at a local dance
resulted in membership in a couple of local bands and a chance to appear on a
local radio station. By 1937, he was a member of Clayton McMichens Georgia
Wildcats, and a year later hed moved on to the Drifting Pioneers, who found a
permanent broadcasting gig at Cincinnatis WLW. The Boone Country Jamboree radio
show kept the group busy until World War II came along and forced it to disband.
While a member of the Drifting Pioneers, Travis acquired a national following
and also began playing with Grandpa Jones and the Delmore Brothers in a gospel
quartet called the Browns Ferry Four. He later teamed up with Jones as the
Shepherd Brothers as the first artists to record for the newly founded King
Records label in 1943. He and Jones even exchanged songs and found the sources
for a few songs together -- it was while out with Jones one day at a Black
church in Cincinnati that Travis heard the sermon that became the song Thats
All.

Folk Songs of the HillsTravis spent a short stint in the Marines, but was
quickly discharged and returned to Cincinnati. During the late winter of 1944,
he headed for Los Angeles, where he began making appearances in Charles
Starretts Western movies and playing with Ray Whitleys Western swing band. With
guidance from Tex Ritter and bassist Cliffie Stone, in 1946 he released the
topical song No Vacancy -- dealing with the displacement of returning veterans
-- along with Cincinnati Lou, and earned a double-sided hit. His next major
project was a concept album, Folk Songs of the Hills, which was intended to
compete with Burl Ives successful folk recordings. The album, released as a set
of four 78-rpm discs, was a failure at the time it was released in 1947 (it
wasnt even transferred to long-playing disc until nearly ten years later).
However, it yielded several classics, among them the Travis originals Sixteen
Tons, Dark as a Dungeon, and Over by Number Nine, as well as introducing such
standards as Nine Pound Hammer; it also became a unique document, depicting a
beautiful all-acoustic solo guitar performance by this master virtuoso.

The initial failure of the folk album aside, 1947 began a boom period in Travis
career. In addition to writing the million-selling hit Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! for
his friend Tex Williams, he had a half-dozen Top Ten records himself, including
Divorce Me C.O.D., So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed, and Three Times Seven.
Travis also devised the first solid-body electric guitar, coming up with a model
that, when perfected by Leo Fender, would become a key element in early rock &
roll. The string of hits didnt last, but Travis career continued uninterrupted,
with performances on stage, television, and record.

Beginning in 1953, he landed a fairly visible movie role in one of the biggest
films of the year, From Here to Eternity, where he performed Re-Enlistment
Blues, and it was around that same time that he began playing on all of his
friend Hank Thompsons records. In 1955, Tennessee Ernie Ford had his crossover
hit with Sixteen Tons, and it was around that same time that Travis acolytes
such as Atkins were making a major impact on music themselves. Scotty Moore,
whod first been influenced by Travis from his radio performances, had become
Elvis Presleys lead guitarist, and a year after Elvis hit nationally, the Everly
Brothers (themselves Atkins disciples) started topping the charts.

Songs of the Coal MinesTravis was one of those musical figures who was referred
to constantly, either musically or literally, by dozens of major figures, but he
was never able to ascend the charts himself again. Much of the problem lay in
his personal life. Along with a reputation as one of country musics top axemen,
Travis also became known as a wild man, especially when he drank. He was
arrested more than once for public intoxication and drunk driving -- on his
motorcycle -- and in 1956 there was a highly publicized report of police
surrounding his home after he assaulted his wife. Then, during the early 60s, he
was hospitalized briefly after being arrested while driving under the influence
of narcotics. He managed to pull his professional life together in the mid-60s
to do one new folk-style album, Songs of the Coal Mines, which, like its
predecessor Folk Songs of the Hills, failed to sell on its original release. His
other albums -- mostly instrumental, such as Walkin the Strings -- proved much
more significant and influential at the time as standard acquisitions for
aspiring guitarists.

Atkins-Travis Traveling ShowHe still played occasionally and became something of
a star on the college folk circuit, teaming with Atkins for the Grammy-winning
Atkins-Travis Traveling Show in 1974. Travis finally seemed to settle down after
he married his fourth wife, Dorothy -- the former wife of his longtime friend
Hank Thompson -- and focused once again on music. He recorded tribute albums to
the Georgia Wildcats and began working again with old associates like Grandpa
Jones, and it looked like Travis was to enjoy a resurgence of musical and public
acclaim. At age 65, however, he suffered a massive heart attack and died the
following morning. ~ Bruce Eder

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