MERLE TRAVIS & JOE MAPHIS
Country Guitar Giants (CMH)
Reviewed by DJ Johnson

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As they entered the final few years of their lives, two of the greatest guitar pickers of all time joined forces for this 1979 CMH album. 62 year old Merle Travis and 58 year old Joe Maphis still had their trademark sounds, and those sounds blended quite well. The two were good friends with a ton of mutual respect, deservedly so, as they were two of the most copied stylists of the instrument. The thirty songs here are all over the map, stylistically, from gently rendered old standards to blazing bluegrass powder kegs, all recorded nice and clean so every note, every bend and every chicka-chicka of the pick is clear as a mountain lake. These aren't the most vital performances by either man, by any means, as you'd obviously have to go back a ways into their individual catalogs to find those influential recordings, but this CD is a joy for any fan of either of these legends. Anyone with any real country in their hearts will appreciate it, as well, because it's got all kinds of sweet twang. The extensive liner notes by Travis, written for the original release, add a nice finishing touch.

Track List:

Free Little Bird * Mose Rager Blues * Alabama Jubilee * Hear Dem Bells * Eight More Miles to Louisville * Little Rosewood Casket * Down Among the Budded Roses * Cannonball Rag * Beer Barrel Polka * My Adobe Hacienda * Lover * Snow Deer * Ike Everly's Rag * Sweet Bunch of Daisies * Columbus Stockade Blues * San Antonio Rose * Li'l Liza Jane * Bury Me Beneath the Willow * High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me) * John Henry * Freight Train * I Wonder Where You Are Tonight * Wildwood Flower * Back in the Saddle Again * Memphis Blues * Black Mountain Rag * Say "Si Si" * Somebody Stole My Gal * Right or Wrong & Smiles * I Saw the Light

© 2003 - DJ Johnson