The Merle Travis Guitar

The Sheik Of Araby

The Merle Travis Guitar
Merle Travis The Composer Of "Sixteen Tons"
Capitol SM-650

From the back cover: The Merle Travis Guitar. For the first time in an album of solos. Country artists call his playing the "Travis style." To jazz musicians it's "country guitar." Whatever the name, the guitar playing of Merle Travis is something special, and just plain good.

To begin with, there's the tone Merle gets. It is rich and expressive, reflecting a great reverence for the instrument, as does the music of all great folk instrumentalists. When Merle Travis was a youngster, playing tent and medicine shows back in Boone County, Kentucky, he was deeply influenced by the so-called "natural" or "unschooled" musicians. They inherited their style of playing from the frontier and backwoods people who made music back in the days when musical instruments were rare and prized possessions.

In those early days, the few simple songs like the people knew were played over and over. In making the the tunes "sound better," folk musicians developed full and often very distinctive tones on their instruments. As Merle demonstrates in this recording, tone by itself can impart strength and poignancy to the humblest of harmonies, the simplest of melodies

The importance of Merle Travis as a guitarist has been obscured by his fame as a vocalist, and as composer of such country and western favorites as Smoke, Smoke, Smoke; No Vacancy; Cincinnati Lou and So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed. Actually, his techniques alone make him outstanding among guitarists on the American scene. When Merle plays, every phrase is fluent, every note is clean. Even though the music in this album sometimes sound as through several guitars were playing at the same time, no recording tricks of any sort were used.

Although the "Travis style" cannot be called jazz, the jazz influence is apparent in Merle's musical ideas. For one thing, his music has a feeling borrowed from what used to be called "blues playing," a quality which made his vocal and instrumental rendition of Re-enlistment Blues in the film "From Here To Eternity" so memorable. Merle's ideas create music that is crisp, often intricate, but never dissonant. Sometimes the music wails, but it never whimpers.

From Billboard - May 24, 1956 (original release Capitol T-650): The basic element of Travis' guitar is the distinctive touch of sophistication in most of the material displayed here. Melodies are easily distinguishable, but the full, rich chords are there, too, which gives the playing a satisfying, full-bodies sound The selection comes mostly from the past, i.e., "Memphis Blues," "The Sheik Of Araby," "Bugle Call Rag," etc., but several Travis originals (not including "16 Tons") are etched as well. Should be commercially successful venture.

Blue Smoke
Black Diamond Blues
On A Bicycle Made For Two
Saturday Night Shuffle
Bugle Call Rag
Tuck Me To Sleep In My Old 'Ducky Home
Walkin' The Strings
The Memphis Blues
The Sheik Of Araby
Blue Bell
The Waltz You Saved For Me
Rockabye Rag