MERLE TRAVIS – GUITAR LEGEND
By Robert Lee Johnson
Merle Travis is one of America’s Guitar Legends. He started playing Guitar in the 30s, paid his dues, and became a big time Radio Music Star, both in person, and on Records.
Anyone who plays Guitar with the skills of Merle Travis was born with great talent, genius level talent for music and the Guitar. A Finger style Guitar Playing is named for Merle Travis, “Travis Picking.” The Great Guitarist was the idol of many other great guitarist who came after him. Two genius level Guitarists that idolized Merle Travis are: Chet Atkins and Doc Watson. Both Chet and Doc named one of their children after Merle Travis. This is one of the highest honors one man can pay another man.
Merle Travis was big on live Radio in the late 30s. In the Mid 40s he had several top selling Chart Records on the Radio. Most of the songs Merle Travis made into hits were written by himself. Many of the Vocal Hits of Merle Travis were actually Novelty songs. Of course all his hit recordings included some of his great Finger Style Guitar.
A music star only stays on top for so many years. Kenny Rodgers said that if one could keep songs in the top 10 for 5 years, it was an amazing feat. So eventually the top chart songs quit coming for Merle Travis. He then went back to doing what he did best which was playing Guitar, instead of being a Singing Star.
Around 1950, after the hits had quit coming for Merle Travis, he took a job as a Lead Guitar Player in the Western Swing Band of Hank Thompson. Just how many years Merle Travis played the Hank Thompson Band I don’t know. But it was for quite a few years.
In the 50s Merle Recorded some Guitar Instrumentals for Capitol Records. His instrumental recordings are loved much by the Merle Travis Fans. Merle Travis left his mark on then world with his Guitar Instrumentals, much more so than with his Vocal Recordings.
Cliffy Stone was a band leader and Record Producer for Capitol Records. He Produced the Recordings of Merle Travis. Cliffy Stone ask Merle Travis to write some folk songs. Merle told him that “One does not write a Folk Song.” Cliffy Stone then ask Merle to write some songs that sounded like folk songs. So Merle wrote his many Coal Miner Songs. One of the Coal Mining songs of Merle Travis was “Sixteen Tons,” recorded by Tennessee Ernie Ford in the early 50s becoming a multi million selling record in both Country and Pop Music.
In the 60s Merle Travis was still going strong without his recordings being on the charts. He made a good living traveling in his Pickup Truck Type Camper appearing all over the United States. In the 60s Merle Travis may have had no chart records but by this time he was a Guitar Legend. Merle Travis could work as much as he wanted, as long as he lived and was playing music. His Legend just kept on growing through the years.
Merle Travis made his living all his life as a Guitar Player, few Guitar players achieve this feat. Though Merle Travis made some big bucks from the sales of his recordings, his bread and butter was his in person appearances. This is true for most Guitar players.
A few Guitar players make a great deal of money doing recording studio work, but still they must play the in person concerts, usually backing up singers, to make a living. In the end 98 percent of all musicians make the most money for their personal appearances, not their records.
A music artist must become a super star to make really big bucks from recordings, and this does not happen to 98 percent of all Music artists who are recorded. However, the music artist recordings being played on the Radio, and selling well, makes the artist well known enough to book good paying personal appearance jobs. For 98 percent of all recording artists, the popularity of their recordings enables the Recording artists to book good jobs.
Many Music Artists with songs in the top 40 never get paid one cent in royalties for the sales of their recordings. This is true because all Production, manufacturing, distribution, and publicity costs, must be met before the artists start receiving royalties. With Many Recording Artists, the initial costs are never met, and the artists get absolutely no money from the sales of their recordings.
The popularity of Merle Travis on live Radio shows got him Recording Contracts. At one time, more music was heard from live Radio performances than on recordings. Only in the mid 40s did records began to be played on Radio enough to really matter to the recording artists. By 1950, live Radio performances were all but gone. However, by 1950, live TV Music performances were very big. And Merle Travis was on live TV shows quite a bit in California.
Merle Travis, like all recording artists, became very well known from his hit records. The popularity from his recordings gave him the ability to earn a good living all his life as a Guitar Player. This is the real benefit from being a popular recording artist.
The music Career of Merle Travis reached great heights in Ohio. Then a Movie Star, Smiley Burnette, who was a friend of Merle’s in Ohio, talked him into moving to Hollywood California. This was the best career move that Merle could possibly have made at the time.
Merle Travis reached the height of his Popularity in California in the 40s and 50s. He was not a Nashville Musician. Only in the 60s and 70s did Merle Travis work out of Nashville. By this time Nashville had become the Recording Music Capitol for Country Music. California had declined as a Country Music Center. Merle had worked in that part of California where Western Swing was King. Western Swing was a more sophisticated Country Music that used drums and had Horns in the Band. Nashville, until the late 50s was a down home Country Music Center with only Fiddles, Banjos, Mandolins, Stand Up Bass, and Guitars. By the 60s, Nashville had been modernized by Chet Atkins at RCA Records, Owen Bradley of Decca Records, and other Record Producers in Nashville.
Merle Travis was booking out of Nashville in the Early 70s when I met him at the Black Poodle Night Club in Printer’s Alley, in Downtown Nashville. When this Guitar legend took his first break of the evening, there at the Black Poodle, I went up and said hello to him. He was very friendly, coming over to our table and spending his entire 15 minute break sitting with My Wife and Me. Merle had a very high spirit, being a very upbeat person who was most enjoyable to talk to. It was easy to see that Merle Travis was a very intelligent man, not a nerd, but very intelligent, and very likable. Merle Travis was very well liked by all those who knew him personally. He just appeared to be one big, tall, happy Guitar Picker. There is no doubt that Merle Travis was a big man, both in Stature and as a human being.
Merle Travis has passed on now. His music lives on through his CDs. There are 11 CDs listed for Merle Travis on Amazon Com. Four of these CDs were recorded when he was playing on the Radio.
If you have never heard Merle Travis, you should listen to this Pioneer and Legend of Solo Guitar. Merle was one of the very first solo Guitar players to attain popularity. The Legend of Merle Travis gets larger and more significant as each year passes. Merle Travis is one of the All Time Great Guitarist.
By Robert Lee Johnson
The Guitar Man
Also checkout another Legend – Chet Atkins
