Merle Travis: Guitar Man

That Tennessee Beat

The Night Rider

Five Minutes to Live

From Here to Eternity

Cyclone Fury

Silver Spurs

Old Chisholm Trail

Lone Star Moonlight

Galloping Thunder

Roaring Rangers

Why Did I Fall for Abner?

Montana Plains

Texas Home

Harlan County U.S.A.

Merle Robert Travis (November 29, 1917 – October 20, 1983) was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born in Rosewood, Kentucky, his songs' lyrics were often about the lives and the economic exploitation of American coal miners. Among his many well-known songs and recordings 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 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