Merle Travis - Merle Travis Guitar/Walkin the Strings... Plus

Title: Merle Travis Guitar/Walkin the Strings... Plus Artist: Merle Travis Release Date: 8/11/2009 Label: Raven Duration: 76:17 Album Type(s): Greatest Hits UPC: 612657029923 Genre: Country Styles: Traditional Country, Instrumental Country, Country Boogie, Americana Moods: Amiable/Good-Natured, Lively, Innocent, Organic, Confident, Playful, Sentimental, Freewheeling, Gentle, Light, Refined/Mannered, Reflective, Relaxed, Smooth, Stylish, Warm, Earnest, Complex, Earthy Total Copies: 0 Members Wishing: 1 Number of Discs/SwapaCD Credits: 1

1. Blue Smoke
2. Black Diamond Blues
3. On a Bicycle Built for Two
4. Saturday Night Shuffle
5. Bugle Call Rag
6. Tuck Me to Sleep in My Old 'Tucky Home
7. Walkin' the Strings
8. The Memphis Blues
9. The Sheik of Araby
10. Blue Bell
11. The Waltz You Saved for Me
12. Rockabye Rag
13. Walkin' the Strings
14. Little David Play on Your Harp
15. Saturday Night Shuffle
16. Thumbing the Bass
17. Cane Break Blues
18. Darby's Ram
19. Everly Rag
20. Rose Time
21. Old Aunt Dinah
22. My Old Kentucky Home
23. Pigmeat Stomp
24. Blue Smoke
25. Dry Bread
26. Louisville Clog
27. On a Bicycle Built for Two
28. Green Bay Polka
29. Jordan Am a Hard Road to Travel
30. Travis Trot
31. Cannon Ball Stomp
32. Fuller Blues
33. Blue Bell
34. Take My Hand, Precious Lord
35. Turn My Picture Upside Down [*]
36. I'm Knee Deep in Trouble [*]
37. A Too Fast Past [*]
38. Louisiana Boogie [*]
39. So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed [*]

Year Type Label Catalog # 2009 CD Raven 299

No other editions were found for this album.

This nice set combines a pair of Merle Travis LPs, 1956's The Merle Travis Guitar and 1960's Walkin' the Strings, with a half-dozen or so bonus tracks and radio transcriptions, and it spotlights all the parts of Travis' impressive talent as a performer -- and Travis could pretty much do it all. The thumb- and index-finger guitar picking method he learned as a kid in Muhlenberg County, KY served him very well throughout his long career, and he developed into one of the most skilled and innovative guitar players on the country (or any other) scene, capable of making an acoustic or electric guitar sound like a complete swing orchestra, a style so his own that it has its own name ("Travis picking"). Travis also had a comfortable, warm voice, and considerable skills as a songwriter, making him a triple-threat performer, and he merged folk and country with jazz and swing textures into an easy, down-home populist tone. All of this is on display here. The only thing that makes this collection less than a perfect introduction to Travis is that it lacks versions of his most famous songs like "Dark as a Dungeon," "Sixteen Tons," and "Divorce Me C.O.D." But don't worry, there's plenty of great stuff here. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide

Name Credits Cliffie Stone Liner Notes Denys Williams Compilation Ian McFarlane Preparation Keith Glass Liner Notes Kevin Mueller Preparation Merle Travis Arranger Peter Shillito Compilation, Concept, Preparation Warren Barnett Mastering