They All Sang Merle Travis

1956 Billboard ad

The charismatic country musician Merle Travis (1917-83) was a remarkably influential guitarist and a talented singer, but today's post will explore his gifts as a songwriter. We'll look at 26 recordings by other country musicians as well as such disparate performers as Lawrence Welk and Mickey Katz, and add a few that include Travis but were not issued under his name.

Early Life and Career

It's hard to discuss Merle Travis without citing his background, which colored some of his most famous songs. He was born and raised in coal-mining country, Muhlenberg County, Tennessee, and learned to play guitar from local musicians who included Ike Everly, father of Phil and Don.

By the time he was 20, he was playing with well-known country fiddler Clayton McMichen, and soon moved to become a staff musician at Cincinnati's WLW radio. His first recordings were in 1943 with fellow WLW staffer Grandpa Jones. They called themselves the "Sheppard Brothers" to sidestep their employer's prohibition on recording. Their "You'll Be Lonesome Too" and "The Steppin' Out Kind" (not included in this collection) comprised the first 78 ever issued by Syd Nathan's King Records.

1944-45 Recordings

It wasn't long before Travis was making a name for himself both as musician and songwriter. By 1944, he had moved to California and soon was in the studios with Capitol artist Wesley Tuttle. Together they wrote our first selection, "It May Be Too Late." The song is a standard bluegrass style yearning-for-the-old-folks-at-home number. It is a Travis record in all but name; he is the lead singer and guitarist on the recording. In just a few years Travis would record at Capitol under his own name.

From about the same time came the Travis-Tuttle "I Know It's Wrong," another standard country lament, with Tuttle singing and Travis' excellent picking.

Tex Atchison (upper left), Merle Travis (lower left), Cliffie Stone (right). Guitarist Red Murrell also recorded with Travis.

With the third side, we encounter one of Merle's most characteristic and famous songs, "Cincinnati Lou." Travis was to have a hit with the song under his own name for Capitol in 1946, but this 1945 version is by "Tin Ear Tanner and His Back Room Boys" for the small Bel-Tone label. Again, Travis sings and plays on the record, although it's not clear if he or fiddler Tex Atchison answered to "Tin Ear Tanner." The Back Room Boys included longtime Travis associate Cliffie Stone on bass.

1946 Recordings

Judy Canova

Travis really began to rise with his Capitol contract. His first session there, in March 1946, produced not only "Cincinnati Lou" but "No Vacancy," co-written with Cliffie Stone. It, too, was a hit and among the cover records was a version by ex-vaudeville personality Judy Canova, who was then popular in films. She cut it for the small ARA label (which unbeknownst to her and other ARA artists was a Soviet-front operation).

But Travis' biggest hit in 1946 was "Divorce Me C.O.D." from a July session. By that time the major labels were getting interested, and Decca had their popular novelty act the Hoosier Hot Shots do a version. The material was suited to their style and the results are convincing.

In August 1946, Capitol had Travis record an album of Folk Songs of the Hills, from which came several of Merle's most famous songs - "Sixteen Tons," "Dark as a Dungeon" and others. Among them was "That's All," here in a late 1946 rendition for 4-Star by "T" Texas Tyler, longtime country star.

1947-49 Recordings

In early 1947, Merle had another big success with "So Round, So Firm, So Fully-Packed," here in a cover version by one of the biggest names in country music, Ernest Tubb. In the lyrics, Travis wove in several takeoffs on current advertising slogans. The title is a Lucky Strike cigarettes catch phrase. Other products referenced in the song are Sunkist oranges, Camel cigarettes, Packard automobiles and Pepsi-Cola.

"Weary Lonesome Me" is another standard country lament that Travis had recorded during in his first Capitol session. It was unissued then, but his old associate Grandpa Jones picked it up and recorded it in 1947 for King. Among those playing on the record are Nashville session musicians Henry Haynes and Kenneth Burns, who soon would become known as musical satirists Homer and Jethro. I believe the guitarist is Hank Garland.

Deuce Spriggins and His Band (Deuce is to the right of the accordionist)

The biggest country hit of 1947 was "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)," written by Travis and Tex Williams. Among the musicians playing on Tex's superb, fast-paced recording were bassist Deuce Spriggins, who ventured into the studio a few months later to record his own version for Coast (which spelled his name "Spriggens"). It's not at all a bad record, although Deuce did not possess Tex's superb timing or resonant voice.

"Smoke" was such a big country hit that even someone like bandleader Lawrence Welk got interested, enlisting Bob "Tex" Cromer for the date. Cromer did have a country background, and recorded a few numbers with Spade Cooley later on. This record is not as limp as you might suspect, but posed no threat to Tex Williams or even Deuce Spriggins.

Travis recorded his distasteful "I Like My Chicken Fryin' Size" for Capitol in July 1947. The big country star Johnny Bond was in Columbia's studios a few weeks later for a cover version, suggesting again that recording companies and leading artists were paying close attention to Travis. Later that same year, Bond and Columbia put out Merle's ballad "A Petal from a Faded Rose."

Wade Ray in 1919

Wade Ray had been in vaudeville as a young child. By 1949, he had become a versatile country artist, singing and playing all the instruments on "Cuddlebug." I had to check the label twice to make sure this was a Travis song. It's catchy and accomplished, but old-timey, a song that could have been written back when Ray was a boy fiddler.

Recordings of the 1950s

Grandpa Jones

Grandpa Jones returned in 1950 with "Dark as a Dungeon," one of Travis' best and most famous songs, which originally appeared in the Folk Songs from the Hills album. Jones does it full justice in a most affecting bluegrass recording. (For some reason, King attributed the song to Jones.)

In late 1950, Tex Williams took Travis' "Don't Make Love to Mary (With Mabel on Your Mind)" into the studio, with hopes of repeating the success of "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke!" This brilliant novelty is just as good as "Smoke," although not as profitable. "Don't slip and call her Ginger / If her name is Clementine" is the advice here.

Tex Williams

Lindy Doherty was a pop singer on Capitol's rolls for a short time. He did a good job in 1950 with "Sweet Temptation," a bid for crossover success with lush backing from Sid Feller. Travis had recorded the song back in 1946.

Roberta Lee was a former band singer who began a recording and a night club career in the late 40s. In 1952, she did a sardonic and highly effective version of Travis' "Common Folks." It's a lesser known but very worthwhile example of Merle's talking-blues style.

Ramblin' Jimmie Dolan

"Ramblin' Jimmie Dolan" (Lee Roy Pettit) is best remembered for his 1951 hit "Hot Rod Race" (a cover for Capitol of Arkie Shibley's Gilt-Edge original). He is commanding on 1953's "The Wheel That Does the Squeakin'." This driving honky-tonk side boasted Capitol's best sidemen, including Jimmy Bryant, Billy Strange, Speedy West, Red Murrell, Muddy Berry and Billy Liebert. Another exceptionally clever song.

Molly Bee

From about the same time is "What'll He Do?" from the 14-year-old Molly Bee, who had scored with her 1952 version of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus." Bee was a talented youngster who often was on American television in the 1950s.

Travis' own bid for Christmas immortality was 1953's "Freddie, The Little Fir Tree," yet another anthropomorphic tale in the mode of "Frosty the Snowman." I think it's creepy, and it did not become one of Gene Autry's most famous holiday records. Ned Fairchild was the co-author.

"Steel Guitar Rag" was a famous Bob Wills instrumental written by Leon McAuliffe of the Wills band (although it was based on earlier songs). Travis and frequent collaborator Cliffie Stone added words and recorded it in 1947. The Dinning Sisters, a country version of the Andrews Sisters, revived it for Decca in 1953. Decca arranger Jack Pleis' work is unidiomatic; he probably was not used to having a steel guitar in his studio. The words are fine, but this is not a song that was crying out for lyrics (or the Dinnings, for that matter).

Eddy Arnold, RCA Victor's country superstar, was in rare form with "Bayou Baby (A Cajun Lullaby)," a lovely song, one of Travis' best. This superb record was an early 1956 release.

Travis' most popular composition is probably the surreal coal-mining song "Sixteen Tons," one of the numbers in his 1946 Folk Songs of the Hills. It wasn't until 1955 that the song it became a huge hit, in Tennessee Ernie Ford's compelling version (a favorite of mine when I was six). This Ford record elicited some unlikely cover versions, including one by the talented pop singer Johnny Desmond, who does surprisingly well in the face of Dick Jacobs' unsympathetic arrangement.

Mickey Katz and his 16 tons of salami

Tennessee Ernie's record was so pervasive that it invited parodies, including a Mickey Katz deconstruction. Instead of sixteen tons of No. 9 coal, Katz loads sixteen tons of hard salami in the delicatessen to which he owes his neshamah. It's incredible, as are many of Katz' records. This may be the only Travis record with a klezmer-style break.

As country morphed into rockabilly in the mid-50s, a popular example of the genre was Sanford Clark's "The Fool" of early 1956. Later that year he covered "Nine Pound Hammer," which had appeared in the Folk Songs of the Hills album. The song is so associated with Travis that it is usually ascribed to him (as it is here), although it's a traditional number and was identified as such in the original album. Clark's pounding rockabilly reading is probably not what Travis had in mind, although it's compelling in its own way (in fact, it's better than "The Fool"). Guitarist Al Casey discovered Clark and plays the stinging solo on this record.

As a measure both of the distance music had come in a decade and of Travis' greatness as an artist, we end this collection with Merle's own 1946 recording of "Nine Pound Hammer," which shows how his inimitable narrative and superb vocal and guitar playing made the song his own.

All these recordings come from the vast reaches of the Internet Archive, as cleaned up by me. The sound is generally excellent.

Travis Himself on Film and Video

YouTube has these examples of Merle performing songs in this collection:

Nine Pound Hammer

Sixteen Tons

Sweet Temptation

Dark as a Dungeon

1956 Billboard ad