CLASSIC country question, does any body remember MERLE TRAVIS?!
Question: one of the best guitar players ever.
Answers: one of the best guitar players ever.
I remember Merle Travis as on heck of a guitar picker who had one song that I really liked called "Nine Pound Hammer" He is one of the legends who did a lot of picking on recordings made by many others. He and Joe Maphis are just two of my favorite pickers.
I remember his song "Sixteen Tons" and "9 Pound Hammer". My father was a big fan of his music.
Yes, every single fingerstyle guitar player!
"Travis Picking" is the technique we learn early on, so his name lives on around the world, well, wherever there are guitars, at least - thanks, Merle : )
"Sixteen Tons" and "Nine-Pound Hammer" came off of an album Merle Travis did called "Folk Songs Of The Hills" in the late 1940s. The record lable wanted him to include some songs about mining. He couldn't find any he liked so he wrote some himself that were based on his own father's experiences as a coal miner in Kentucky. The song "Sixteen Tons" later became a big hit for "Tennessee" Ernie Ford.