Merle Travis - Folk Songs of the Hills (Back Home/Songs of the Coal Miners)

Title: Folk Songs of the Hills (Back Home/Songs of the Coal Miners) Artist: Merle Travis Release Date: 1947 Re-Released On: 6/28/1994 Label: Bear Family Album Type(s): Greatest Hits UPCs: 4000127156365, 790051156367 Genre: Country Styles: Traditional Country, Instrumental Country, Country Boogie 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: 4 Number of Discs/SwapaCD Credits: 1

1. Nine Pound Hammer
2. That's All
3. John Bolin
4. Muskrat
5. Dark as a Dungeon
6. John Henry
7. Sixteen Tons
8. Possum Up a Simmon Tree
9. I Am a Pilgrim
10. Over by Number Nine
11. Barbara Allen
12. Lost John
13. Black Gold
14. The Harlan County Boys
15. Pay Day Comes Too Slow
16. The Browder Explosion
17. Bloody Brethitt County
18. Here's to the Operator, Boys
19. The Miner's Wife
20. The Courtship of Second Cousin Claude
21. Miner's Strawberries
22. Paw Walked Behind Us with a Carbide Lamp
23. Preacher Lane
24. Dear Old Halifax

Year Type Label Catalog # 1994 CD Bear Family 15636 ------ CD Bear Family 0000015636

No other editions were found for this album.

In 1946, Capitol approached Travis with the idea of cutting a folk album, and although he wasn't an especially folk-oriented artist, he agreed to give it a go. Although the resulting 1947 record (released as a 78 rpm album) didn't sell well, it was a respectable effort performed by Travis on solo acoustic guitar. Folksy introductions embellish the songs, which include standbys like "John Henry" and "Nine Pound Hammer." Travis added a few songs of his own penned in the folk style, and one of these, "Sixteen Tons," would prove to be his most famous composition, reaching number one when it was covered by Tennessee Ernie Ford in the 1950s. The CD reissue combines the eight songs from the 1947 release with four songs from the Capitol Electrical Transciption series that were added to the batch when the album was reissued as Back Home in 1957; it also adds a song from the 1946 sessions that was previously unreleased in the U.S., "This World Is Not My Home." ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide

Name Credits Archie Green Liner Notes Dave Samuelson Reissue Producer Hoffmann Nienburg Artwork Lee Gillette Producer Merle Travis Vocals, Guitar Rebecca Everett Mastering Richard Weize Reissue Producer