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MERLE TRAVIS
The Best Of - Sweet Temptation (1946-1953)
(Razor & Tie)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
Merle Travis joined the great postwar migration west, but it wasn't the farms and factories of California that drew him cross-country. He plied his trade in the Hollywood recording studios, cranking out the music that the people known as "Okies"--who were as likely to come from Kansas, Texas, Tennessee or Travis' home state of Kentucky as Oklahoma--provided a ready market for.
Travis mastered that market with the kind of songs found on this 20-track collection, but he was far more than the temporary star of a migratory fan base. Merle Travis, who was already an accomplished stage and radio performer before he headed west, was a legend in the making.
That legend was rooted in more than his songs, which include classic country standards like "Sixteen Tons," "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed," and "Guitar Rag." He is one of the handful of musicians with a lasting style named after them. The syncopated guitar technique--a two-finger picking style emphasizing thumb-picked bass runs, which he crafted from the boyhood lessons of his Muhlenberg, Kentucky, neighbors--is known today as "Travis-style," and it has been an essential part of the arsenal of any well-rounded country picker for a half a century. He provided a primary inspiration for guitarists like Chet Atkins, Jerry Reed, and Doc Watson (Watson was to name his equally-talented son after Travis). It's valid to wonder if the Bakersfield Sound of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard would have ever happened if Merle Travis hadn't happened first. He's a vital link in the history of honky-tonk.
Almost as significant, if somewhat less fortunate, is the legend of the hard-drinking, hard-traveling, hard-luck country music star that Merle Travis personified. In some circles, stories of his legendary binges and the brawls that punctuated them are as well known as his songs. He was the prototype of the country music outlaw, pre-dating Cash, Jennings, and the others who would ride that image to more commercial success than Travis ever managed.
A legendary man, the creator of legendary music, some knowledge of Merle Travis is essential to anyone who wants to truly know country music. This collection is a great place to get started, with his biggest commercial successes, some of his best instrumental work, and a previously unreleased cover of Jimmie Rodgers' "Any Old Time." Just great stuff from start to stop. A must have.
Track List:
Cincinnati Lou * No Vacancy * Divorce Me C.O.D. * So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed * Sixteen Tons * Steel Guitar Rag * Blue Yodel No. 1 (T For Texas) * Any Old Time * Three Times Seven * Kentucky Means Paradise * Sweet Temptation * Fat Gal * Dry Bread * Cannon Ball Rag * Lawdy, What A Gal * Guitar Rag * Deep South * Re-Enlistment Blues * Kinfolks In Carolina * I'll See You In My Dreams
© 2000 - Shaun Dale