Merle Travis

Merle Travis
Merle Travis and his Gibson Super 400 at the Country Music Hall of Fame
Background information
Birth name	Merle Robert Travis
Born	(1917-11-29)November 29, 1917 Rosewood, Kentucky US
Died	October 20, 1983(1983-10-20) (aged 65) Tahlequah, Oklahoma US
Genres	Country, Western swing, blues, folk, gospel, Americana
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	guitar
Years active	1936–83
Labels	King, Capitol, CMH

Merle Robert Travis (November 29, 1917 – October 20, 1983) was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist born in Rosewood, Kentucky. His song's lyrics often discussed both the lives and the economic exploitation of American coal miners. Among his many well-known songs are "Sixteen Tons," "Re-Enlistment Blues," "I am a Pilgrim," and "Dark as a Dungeon." However, it is his unique guitar style, still called Travis Picking by guitarists, as well as his interpretations of the rich musical traditions of his native Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, for which he is best known today. "Travis Picking" is a syncopated style of guitar fingerpicking rooted in ragtime music in which alternating chords and bass notes are plucked by the thumb while melodies are simultaneously plucked by the index finger. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1977.

Merle Travis was born and raised in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, a place which would inspire many of Travis's original songs. (This is the same coal mining county mentioned in the John Prine song "Paradise") He became interested in the guitar early in life and originally played one made by his brother. Travis reportedly saved his money to buy a guitar that he had window-shopped for some time.

Merle's guitar playing style was developed out of a native tradition of fingerpicking in Western Kentucky. Among its early practitioners was the black country blues guitarist Arnold Shultz. Shultz taught his style to several local musicians, including Kennedy Jones, who passed it on to other guitarists, notably Mose Rager, a part-time barber and coal miner, and Ike Everly, the father of The Everly Brothers. Their thumb and index fingerpicking method created a solo style that blended lead lines picked by the finger and rhythmic bass patterns picked or strummed by the thumbpick. This technique captivated many guitarists in the region and provided the main inspiration to young Travis. Travis acknowledged his debt to both Rager and Everly, and appears with Rager on the DVD Legends of Country Guitar (Vestapol, 2002).