About This Item
Vinyl LP pressing. The influence of Merle Travis may not be widely known, but it is certainly widely felt across the whole of popular music. A pioneer of what came to be known as InchTravis pickingInch, the technique can be heard in songs by a diverse range of artists, including Fleetwood Mac, John Denver, Simon and Garfunkel, even Taylor Swift. He also invented his own guitar, influencing the subsequent design of Les Fender's iconic Fender Telecaster electric guitar. He was a highly successful singer-songwriter from the mid 1940s onwards, gaining more fans after Tennessee Ernie Ford covered the Travis-penned InchSixteen TonsInch in 1955. He would go on to become an elder statesman figure at the peak of the folk revival in the mid 1960s, largely due to his influential concept album, InchFolk Songs Of The HillsInch, released in 1947. This collection shines a spotlight on his early career, the most successful and productive period for this pioneer of picking. It includes 16 of his finest singles, self-penned and arranged from traditional tunes including InchNo VacancyInch, InchCininatti LouInch, InchDivorce Me C.O.D.Inch, InchNine Pound HammerInch, InchSteel Guitar RagInch, InchMerle's Boogie WoogieInch and InchWhat A ShameInch Album Tracks 1. No Vacancy 2. Cininatti Lou 3. Missouri 4. Divorce Me C.O.D. 5. Sweet Temptation 6. So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed 7. Dark as a Dungeon 8. Nine Pound Hammer 9. Sixteen Tons 10. Fat Gal 11. Three Times Seven 12. Steel Guitar Rag 13. Merle's Boogie Woogie 14. Kentucky Means Paradise 15. Crazy Boogie 16. What a Shame
