Rare Performances 1946 - 1981, Volume 2.
Merle Travis (1917-1983) was the fountainhead of a blues/jazz tinged country guitar fingerstyle since dubbed "Travis Picking." Its impact has permeated not only country but folk and 'roots rock' guitar idioms. Travis's seminal role in American guitar styles overshadows the fact that he was also a formidable talent as songwriter and performer. The many facets of his career are all present in this second offering of rare footage spanning his West Coast post-War prime to his last days as a rediscovered legend. The renewed interest in his music in the 1970s is evident in six performances from that decade, while an informal duet with his son, Thom Bresh, videotaped towards the end of Travis's life, provides a moving coda to this varied collection of brilliant country guitar playing leavened with Travis's blend of humor, poetry, and down-home philosophy in his songs.
Includes:
Soundies, 1946- Silver Spurs Texas Home Why Did I Fall For Abner Old Chisholm Trail Catalogue Cowboy Night Train To Memphis
The Old American Barn Dance- Lost John
Ranch Party, 1957- Nine Pound Hammer John Henry Wildwood Flower When My Baby Double Talks To Me Sixteen Tons Cannonball Rag
Five Star Jubilee, 1961- Dark As A Dungeon Rockabye Rag
Porter Wagoner Show, 1967-1971- That's All Wildwood Flower Lost John Nine Pound Hammer
Nashville Swing, 1979- Cannonball Rag Who's Sorry Now
Thom Bresh's Home, 1981- Way Down Yonder In New Orleans Backwater Blues
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