Legends of

CountryGuitar

featuringChet AtkinsMerle TravisDoc WatsonMose Rager

Legends of

CountryGuitar

featuringChet AtkinsMerle TravisDoc WatsonMose Rager

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LEGENDS OF COUNTRY GUITARfeaturing Chet Atkins, Merle Travis,

Doc Watson & Mose Ragerby Cary Ginell

In 1894 Sears-Roebuck began offering several guitarmodels in its mail order catalogue for the first time. Upuntil then, the banjo and fiddle had been the favored folkinstruments among rural Americans. But with newtraditions developing from a variety of sources: Mexicanmusic from the southwest, ragtime from southern Blacksand the romantic, sweeping sounds of Hawaiian guitars,the guitar soon enveloped the United States, with stylesand stylists established in every region.

In country music, white musicians did not start playingthe guitar with any regularity until the early 1920s. In joiningthe fiddle and banjo in forming the modern country stringband, the guitar quickly became an intricate part ofAmerican culture. Early stylists ranged from the simplerhythm accompaniment of cowboy singers from thesouthwestern plains to the intricate fingerpicking ofmusicians in the eastern mountains.

Mose Rager is acknowledged as being one of thefounding fathers of the Kentucky-born style known as the“Muhlenberg Sound.” Rhythmic and lively, Rager’s soundwas a direct predecessor to that of his disciple, Merle Travis,whose own adaptation of the style became identified as

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“Travis picking.” The elegant fingerstyle playing ofTennessean Chet Atkins was inspired by a variety of factors,not the least of which was Travis’s playing, but that alsoincluded classical and jazz influences. Finally, there is DocWatson, a blind man from North Carolina whose voraciousappetite for hillbilly phonograph records resulted in himbecoming a virtual walking museum of early country guitarstyles. In particular, Watson championed the sounds offlatpickingers such as Riley Puckett and Alton Delmorealong with a variety of other influences including MaybelleCarter, Jimmie Rodgers, Mississippi John Hurt, MerleTravis and Chet Atkins.

This tape showcases these four performers in rarelyseen footage. Together, these are some of the mostinfluential guitarists in country music history, and althoughthey are guitarists whose styles differ greatly from oneanother, have shared a kind of “mutual admiration society”for one another through their artistry.

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MOSE RAGERThe key disseminator of the style of music now known

as “Travis Picking” was a Kentuckian named Mose Rager(1911-1985). Although neither the creator of the style norits most famous ambassador, Rager was the chief influenceon Merle Travis, who popularized it throughout the world.Rager was born on April 2, 1911 in Smallhous, located inOhio County in western Kentucky. Rager learned to playbanjo and guitar when he was seven. In interviews givenlater, Rager credited two men for introducing him to thestyle.

The first was Arnold Shultz (1886-1931), a black coalminer from the Cromwell precinct of Ohio County. Shultz’sreputation as a guitarist was such that he was welcomedin white homes as well as black. In addition to his work inthe mines, Shultz played guitar and fiddle at local housedances. In bands numbering as many as five pieces, Shultzwas often the only black member. It was recalled that hewould teach the other musicians chords in addition to thestandard G, C, and D. On one such occasion, Forrest“Boots” Faught, who played with Shultz, recalled himadding an “A” chord to the pop standard “I’ll See You inMy Dreams.” (The song later became a staple in MerleTravis’s own repertoire.)

During the mid-1920s, Shultz abandoned playing athouse dances and would entertain his fellow coal minerson payday. Hearing the music, the miners wouldautomatically walk up and throw money at him. Soon,young musicians began following Shultz around, pickingup whatever they could from him. One of these youngsterswas 12-year-old Bill Monroe, the future father of bluegrass.Monroe would later marvel at Shultz’s ability to makesmooth transitions between chords and also his ability toplay blues. Another guitarist who learned to play chordsfrom Shultz was Kennedy Jones of Cleaton. Born aroundthe turn of the century, Jones, who was white, becameacquainted with Shultz through Shultz’s earning money bymeeting passenger trains and playing for the disembarkingpassengers. It was Jones who was the chief direct influenceon Mose Rager.

Although Mose Rager never met Arnold Shultz, helearned Shultz’s style through Jones, who he met in 1925when Rager was 14 years old. Jones adapted Shultz’s style

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to fit his own, which involved playing rhythm on the bassstrings of the guitar with a thumb pick. Jones’s innovationwas the key development that led to the uniqueness of theMuhlenberg Sound, which was basically an adaptation forguitar of the stride and ragtime piano styles.

Stride got its name from the striding left hand playingwhat was known as a vamping bass, alternating betweenthe strong notes on the downbeat and chords on the upbeat.The rapidity of the movements of the left hand brought thecomparison to walking with long steps, or striding. Withits emphasis on the downbeat and a propulsive rhythm,the stride style was useful in that one instrument couldprovide the rhythm necessary for dancing while still leavingroom for the right hand (on piano) or index finger (onguitar) to play the melody.

In the 1920s, stride was, if you will, just hitting its stridein New York’s Harlem, where jazz pianist James P. Johnson,its progenitor, was passing it on to disciples such as FatsWaller and Duke Ellington just as Kennedy Jones waspassing it on to Mose Rager. It was a fascinating musicaldevelopment in American music in that usually, when agroup needed to adapt its style for dancing, it would simplyadd more instruments. In the case of western Kentucky,this was not necessarily the case. The modification of theguitar style proved to be a revolutionary advancement inguitar playing.

Chet Atkins, Mose Rager & Merle Travis Photo courtesy of Mose Rager Estate

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It was Rager’s brother-in-law who told Mose about aman who could play chords “all up and down the neck of aguitar.” After learning of this, Mose decided to seek theman out. Cleaton was about four miles from Rager’s home,and when Mose and Kennedy Jones finally met, Ragernoticed that Jones was playing his guitar with a thumbpick, the first he had ever seen. Rager recalled that Joneswas playing the Tin Pan Alley standard “Tuck Me to Sleepin My Old ‘Tucky Home.” He was hooked.

In time, other guitarists in the area picked up theKennedy Jones style, including Lester “Plucker” Englishand Ike Everly, the latter the father of Don and Phil, theEverly Brothers. Rager would often team up with eitherEnglish or Everly and play dances. By the mid-1930s,Rager had settled in Drakesboro in Muhlenberg County.He had curtailed his work in the coal mines and took upbarbering, continuing to play music as a sidelight. It wasat this time, around 1934 or 1935, that he met Merle Travis(Charles Wolfe reports that Travis may have learned Ragerand Everly’s style as early as 1932).

In 1943, Rager quit mining, determined to make it inthe music business. He worked for Grandpa Jones on theGrand Ole Opry in the late 1940s, and was often featuredplaying the show-stopper, “Tiger Rag.” In 1947, he joinedfiddler Curley Fox’s band, and made his first recordings asa sideman on “Black Mountain Rag,” recorded for the Kinglabel (KI-710). Rager’s lightning fast solo on the record

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was played on an electric guitar. “Black Mountain Rag”became the biggest selling country instrumental of thedecade, copied by aspiring fiddlers across the country.

By the 1950s, Mose Rager’s fl ing with being aprofessional entertainer was over, and he returned toDrakesboro where he gave guitar lessons, did some playingwith local groups, and took delight in the success of hisdisciple, Merle Travis. Rager died on May 14, 1985 at theage of 74.

MERLE TRAVIS

If it had not been for Merle Travis, the innovations ofArnold Shultz, Kennedy Jones, Mose Rager, and Ike Everlymay have been swallowed up by the dank coal mines ofKentucky. However, when Travis left Muhlenberg Countyin 1936 to play with Clayton McMichen’s Georgia Wildcats,he was ensuring that the Muhlenberg Sound would bepreserved for all time as one of the most popular guitarstyles of the twentieth century.

Merle Robert Travis was born on November 29, 1917in Rosewood in Kentucky’s Muhlenberg County. TheTravises were a musical family. Merle was raised in thetown of Ebenezer, and took up the five-string banjo at the

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age of eight. His father, a coal miner, had played banjostrictly as a pastime. The banjo style (or “banjer” as Traviscalled it) he played is now called “frailing,” the predominantmethod used by hillbilly performers before Earl Scruggsdeveloped the three-finger style associated with bluegrass.When he was twelve, he was given a guitar that his olderbrother Taylor had built. Taylor Travis was also a coal miner,but left to work in an Indiana factory, leaving the guitarbehind for Merle.

Merle met Mose Rager and Ike Everly when the twowere working as coal miners in Drakesboro in 1934 or1935. Other guitarists in the area played the finger-andthumb style Rager and Everly used, and Travis was drawnimmediately to the catchy, rhythmic, black-influencedsound and sought to imitate it. Rager and Everly playedcountry tunes from white tradition, just as every othermusician in Muhlenberg County did. But in addition, theyplayed a variety of tunes from black tradition as well asragtime favorites and Tin Pan Alley numbers. The OriginalDixieland Jazz Band’s “Tiger Rag” was one tune thatcrossed musical and racial lines alike, played by stringbands in addition to horn bands. The two also excelled atpopular standards, such as “I’ll See You in My Dreams.”And, since music was less and less learned in a vacuum orsolely from oral tradition, they copied songs they heard onthe radio by popular network artists such as Paul Whiteman,whose Rhythm Boys included a young singer named BingCrosby. Travis recalled being fascinated by phonographrecords his family owned by artists such as Carson Robisonand Vernon Dalhart, records that were ubiquitous in manya country household. But there were also hillbilly and popguitarists who had a tremendous impact on Travis’ earlytechnique. Specifically, these included Georgia’s ChrisBouchillon (the creator of the talking blues) pop entertainerNick Lucas, and jazz guitarist Eddie Lang.

Eventually, Travis began playing in amateur shows inand around his home town in Kentucky. He would catch atrain to Evansville, Indiana, about sixty miles away, to visithis brother and also to play in contests. It was in Evansvillein 1936 that Travis made his first radio appearance, at adance marathon. This led to his performing regularly onthe radio with acts such as the Tennessee Tom Cats andthe Knox County Knockabouts.

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In 1937, fiddler Clayton McMichen brought his GeorgiaWildcats to Drakesboro to perform in the high schoolauditorium. The Wildcats had just signed a contract torecord for the Decca label and were playing a regularprogram on WHAS in Louisville. Travis and a friend hadheard that the Wildcats’ lead guitarist, Hoyt “Slim” Bryant,had an L-5 Gibson guitar and went down to the schoolhouseto see it. McMichen and Bryant were friendly and obliging,and allowed the 18-year old guitarist to try out Bryant’sguitar. McMichen was impressed enough that when hereturned to Drakesboro a short time later, he promised tosend for Merle as soon as he found an opening in his band.

Soon after, Travis was playing a radio job in Evansvillewhen he got a letter from his mother saying that there wasa telegram waiting for him from Clayton McMichen. Despitethe ravages of the 1937 floods, Travis hitched a ride on arescue boat to get home and read the telegram. It said forhim to meet the Wildcats in Columbus, Ohio in a monthfor a job as the band’s new guitarist.

During the 1920s, Clayton McMichen played fiddle withGid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, one of early countrymusic’s most popular string bands. The Skillet Lickersplayed old time fiddle tunes and hoedowns plus outrageousskits such as the multipart series “A Corn Licker Still inGeorgia,” recorded for Columbia in the late 1920s and early1930s. McMichen, however, was a trained musician whosegreatest desire was to play popular and jazz tunes. Whenhe formed the Georgia Wildcats, he not only utilizedhoedowns in their repertoire, but also songs such as“Farewell Blues” and “Alexander’s Ragtime Band.” OnMarch 1st, Merle Travis arrived in Columbus to join theWildcats, which at that time included fiddler Carl Cotner(later to become Gene Autry’s musical director), guitaristBlackie Case, and bassist Bucky Yates. The Wildcats playedan hour-long radio program during which Travis(nicknamed “Ridgerunner”) would play one featured soloon guitar.

Although McMichen cut his first session for Decca inJuly 1937, Travis was not present. By the time theyrecorded again the following August, Travis had movedon. It would have been most interesting to hear Travis as adeveloping soloist during this time. He was maturing as aperformer, expanding his repertoire, and furthering the

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Kentucky fingerpicking style he had learned from MoseRager and Ike Everly. In 1938, he joined another group,the Drifting Pioneers, at WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio.

The Pioneers was a pre-bluegrass string band thatincluded mandolin, fiddle, guitar, banjo, and bass. WalterBrown was the emcee of the group and played mandolin.His older brother Bill played bass. Morris “Sleepy” Marlinwas a champion fiddler and handled most of the vocals. Inhis three years with the Pioneers, Travis learned much aboutperforming and expanded his repertoire, playing banjo andguitar with the group. He learned gospel tunes and sangbass in the group’s regular gospel quartet feature. He wasalso featured as a solo performer and even helped out withthe group’s comedy routines. In those days, radio groupswould often supplement their income by traveling on localcircuits, playing a stage show that would include comedyand skits in addition to music. The Pioneers was one of themore adept at this variety, and their show was beamedacross the nation from WLW, billed as “The Nation’sStation.” WLW was a 50,000 watt powerhouse withaffiliations with both of NBC’s networks (Red and Blue) aswell as with Mutual.

After three years, the Drifting Pioneers began to breakup after the United States entered World War II. The Brownbrothers took factory jobs and Sleepy Marlin, a flier, taughtflying to recruits in the Air Force. Travis, in the meanwhile,stayed at WLW. When WLW’s program director, George

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Biggar, decided to start another gospel segment, Travisteamed up with three WLW other staff members to formthe Brown’s Ferry Four.

The other members of this group were the DelmoreBrothers (Alton and Rabon) and Louis Marshall “Grandpa”Jones. The Alabama-born Delmores had been makingrecords since 1931. Their style was typical of brother actsduring the 1930s: close harmonies with guitar accom-paniment, except the Delmores had a profound bluesinfluence in their music. Alton would play lead, usuallyplaying boogie-influenced picking on the bass strings whileRabon provided the accompaniment on the higher four-string tenor guitar. Alton Delmore had taught gospel singingand with his help, Merle Travis learned how to read theshape note notation in gospel hymnals. The name of thegroup was the subject of some irony since it came fromthe Delmore Brothers’ 1933 hit recording, “Brown’s FerryBlues,” a bawdy country blues, hardly the type of songthat could be associated with a straitlaced, god-fearinggospel quartet. (Note the lyrics: Two old maids layin’ inthe sand, each one wishin’ that the other was a man.” Butthe name stuck and the quartet had a popular program onWLW.

In Alton Delmore, Merle Travis found a willing tutor,who not only taught him to read shape note notation, butspent many evenings talking to him about music and howit was written, often until after midnight. Before long, Traviswas writing and arranging songs for another WLW group,the Williams Brothers (which included an adolescent AndyWilliams).

In order to play a half-hour program of gospel tuneson a continuing basis, Travis, the Delmores, and Joneshad to learn many songs that included not just gospel, butalso hymns and spirituals. In the black part of Cincinnati,on Central Avenue, was a record store owned by a volatile,cigar-chomping entrepreneur named Syd Nathan. The shopadvertised spiritual recordings and Travis and GrandpaJones would go down there often to listen to the records.When Nathan found out that the two were performers onWLW, he suggested that they make records of their ownfor his new company called King Records. Since they wereunder contract to WLW, Travis and Jones decided to recordfor King under an assumed name, the Sheppard Brothers,

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which came from a caricature Jones was fond of drawingthat he named “Mr. Sheppard.” Travis estimated this tohave occurred in 1940 or 1941, but most likely it was inlate 1943. As “Bob McCarthy,” Travis recorded his firstsolo record for King, “When Mussolini Laid His PistolDown.”

The Brown’s Ferry Four had only been playing for sixmonths when Merle Travis joined the Marine Corps.Grandpa Jones went into the Army, Alton Delmore joinedthe Navy, and Rabon Delmore stayed on at WLW.

When Travis got out of the army in late 1944, hedecided to move west to California at the urging of friendsincluding Smiley Burnette and Hank Penny. He continuedrecording for King, playing electric lead guitar for GrandpaJones and recording a series of sides with Jones and theDelmores as the Brown’s Ferry Four. He also got work asa session man in Los Angeles, backing up artists such asGene Autry and Tennessee Ernie Ford, and obtaining acontract as a solo artist with Capitol Records.

It was with Capitol that Merle Travis’ songwriting talentsbegan to blossom. The succession of hits that he had duringhis first few years for Capitol vir tually defined theburgeoning west coast country music scene, which haddrawn other musicians from other parts of the United Statesafter the conclusion of World War II. Western swing was allthe rage in Los Angeles, with Bob Wills, Tex Williams, andSpade Cooley fronting the most popular bands. Travis’songs were mostly lighthearted, humorous novelties basedon popular catch phrases that he wrote songs around.These include records such as “No Vacancy,” “So Round,So Firm, So Fully Packed,” and “Divorce Me C.O.D.” Hegot the idea for “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! That Cigarette”while painting a fence. The song became a huge hit forTex Williams and his Western Caravan and was alsorecorded by Travis. Not only was Travis adept atsongwriting, but he was able to customize songs for specificartists. “Smoke!” was one such song, written to fit TexWilliams’ bass voice and knack for “talking” his lyrics, a laPhil Harris’ “Darktown Poker Club.” It was specifically thissong that Travis had in mind when he wrote “Smoke!” forTex. One sign that points to the popularity Merle Travisenjoyed in the late 1940s is the fact that Capitol released

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versions of “Smoke!” by Travis as well as Williams, anunusual occurrence since rarely did a label release morethan one version of a song at a time for the fear ofcompeting with itself.

In 1946, Travis was asked by Capitol’s head of artistsand repertoire, Cliffie Stone, to record an album of folksongs. The folk music craze was heating up at the time,with artists such as Burl Ives and Josh White gaining inpopularity. Travis told Stone that all of the popular folksongs had already been recorded, to which Stoneresponded, “Well then, write some.” An exasperated Travissputtered, “You can’t write folk songs!” But Stone prevailedand the result was the landmark 4-pocket 78rpm set “FolkSongs from the Hills,” which included some of Merle Travis’best-loved compositions: “Sixteen Tons,” “Dark as ADungeon,” and “I Am A Pilgrim” in addition to a fewtraditional tunes Travis had learned in Kentucky.

During this period, Travis was playing a Gibson Super400 guitar, which required a lot of maneuvering to reacharound to the back end of the neck to tune the three higherstrings. After thinking about how convenient it would be tohave all of the tuning keys on the near side of the guitar,he drew a prototype, brought it to a friend of his namedPaul Bigsby, and asked him to build it. Travis also wantedthe guitar to have a solid body like those of steel guitars,the reasoning being that the pickup was the source of thesustaining sound and not the resonating hollowed-out body

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of an acoustic guitar. Bigsby’s creation was eventuallymanufactured and marketed by guitar maker Leo Fender.The design revolutionized the guitar industry.

Another revolution that Merle Travis had a hand in wasmultitrack recording. As the advent of recording tape cameinto usage, replacing discs, it became possible to “bounce”tracks from one machine to another. By utilizing themachine’s different speeds, Travis was able to speed upthe sound of his guitar. It was first used on the 1946 Capitolrelease of “Merle’s Boogie Woogie,” in which Travis tookblues couplets from a variety of sources (including onethat he learned from blues singer Leadbelly) andinterspersed them with eight-bar breaks of his “lightningguitar” sound. Although used initially as a novelty,multitrack multispeed recording techniques becamefamiliarly associated with Les Paul and Mary Ford, whooverdubbed voices and guitars, varied speeds, and createdunusual effects for dozens of recordings in the late 1940sand early 1950s

In 1953, Merle Travis was featured as a singing enlistedman in the Academy Award-winning motion picture “FromHere to Eternity.” The song, “Re-enlistment Blues,” whichwas written especially for the picture, was featuredthroughout the film as a background musical motif. But inone scene, Travis appeared, playing guitar and singing thetune.

For Merle Travis, the decade from 1945 to 1955 washis most successful as a songwriter. His hit compositionslanded him appearances on radio and television showsthroughout the country. He became a regular, familiarpresence on Los Angeles programs like “HometownJamboree” and “Town Hall Party.” His busy recordingcareer had him making dozens of bestselling discs forCapitol Records in addition to working as a sideman forHank Thompson, Ernie Ford, and others. In 1955, Fordrecorded Travis’ “Sixteen Tons,” which had been includedon the 1946 “Folk Songs from the Hills” album. With anew, sophisticated instrumental backing arranged bymusical director Jack Fascinato, Ford turned the wry lyricsof the dreary existence of a coal miner into a finger-snapping million seller. It brought Merle Travis new fameand introduced his other songs to an even wider audiencethan ever before.

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In addition, his heretofore revolutionary guitar style,which had taken a back seat to his novelty vocal hits, nowbegan to be recognized as well. This started with the 1956Capitol album, “The Merle Travis Guitar.” It is interestingthat in light of the fact that Travis had written and recordedso many hit songs, from “No Vacancy” to “Three TimesSeven,” etc., that his first long-playing album would beentirely instrumental. Country musicians were alreadyadmirers of the “Travis style” of guitar playing, as it wascalled even then. Now, with Ernie Ford’s recording of“Sixteen Tons” zooming up the charts and breaking salesrecords, Capitol decided to exploit Travis’ new-found fameand test the market by releasing the instrumental album.The record included five original Travis compositions, “Blue Smoke,” “Walkin’ the Strings,” “Rockabye Rag,” BlackDiamond Blues,” and “Saturday Night Shuffle.” It alsoshowcased his expertise in mastering the style he learnedfrom Mose Rager and Ike Everly in songs like “Tuck Me ToSleep in My Old ‘Tucky Home” and “The Waltz You Savedfor Me.” The album has since become a primer forfingerstyle guitar picking, and probably the most reveredinstrumental album in country history.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Merle Travis’ careerwent on a downward spiral, due in part to the threat oncountry music’s young fans by rock and roll and also byTravis’ own personal problems with alcohol and pills. Hejoined the Grand Ole Opry for a brief period and appearedin a movie, “That Tennessee Beat.” During this period,Travis continued recording for Capitol, but the hit songshad ceased, and he eventually settled for the role of elderstatesman and idol for budding guitar players. With his goodfriend Johnny Bond, he paid tribute to his old partners theDelmore Brothers on a 1969 Capitol album. He participatedin several history-making album projects, including theNitty Gritty Dirt Band’s 1971 “Will the Circle be Unbroken,”which honored Travis, Roy Acuff, Maybelle Carter, EarlScruggs, and Doc Watson. He also teamed up for the firsttime with Chet Atkins, who had patterned his own styleafter Merle’s. Their 1975 album for RCA, “The Atkins-TravisTraveling Show” won a Grammy for the two ranking legendsof country guitar, an honor that was followed two yearslater by Travis’ election to the Country Music Hall of Fame.

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Merle Travis’ declining years were spent in easternOklahoma, where he moved in the late 1970s. He continuedtouring, playing fest ivals and making televisionappearances as well as making records for his friend MartinHaerle’s Los Angeles-based CMH record label. In October20, 1983, he suffered a heart attack and died at the age of65.

Merle Travis was country music’s Renaissance man.His many talents seemed without end: guitarist, singer,songwriter, actor, storyteller, journalist, historian, teacher,cartoonist, and, as Chet Atkins once said, if that wasn’tenough, he could also fix your watch.

CHET ATKINS

In speaking about Chet Atkins, Merle Travis once toldjournalist Mark Humphrey, “I don’t ever think that therewill ever be a chance for any other guitar player to be asgreat as Chet. He was born at a time when turn-of-the-century music, the songs of the 1920s and big bands werestill around and not laughed at. He knows it all, from thatmusic to commercial stuff to what was recorded thisafternoon in Nashville. He is the greatest guitar player thathas ever been on this earth, in my opinion. I don’t thinkthere will ever be anyone greater.” Strong words, coming

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from a man who Chet Atkins idolized and tried to imitatewhen he was living in Georgia in 1938. The two men sharemany attributes in addition to their pioneering work on theguitar. They were both unassuming and quiet, with sharpsenses of humor. They loved performing with otherguitarists (including each other) and were generous inimparting skills and techniques they had learned.

They were also two of the most frustratingly modestmusicians one could ever meet. Where Travis would shakehis head while listening to one of his records and give an“aw-shucks, t’weren’t nothin’” response, Atkins wouldabsolutely refuse to listen to anything he had ever recorded.As early as in the liner notes to his first album, the 10"collector’s item “Chet Atkins’ Gallopin’ Guitar,” issued in1952 on RCA Victor, Atkins professed this reluctance forself-analysis: “I don’t like any of my records, nor do I liketo hear them. It hurts me to hear them, I notice so manylittle things I think I could have done better.” Rememberthat this was in 1952, his recording career only just begun,with over a hundred record albums to come during the next45 years.

Chester Burton Atkins was born on June 20, 1924 inthe small town of Luttrell, Tennessee, located in UnionCounty, about 20 miles northeast of Knoxville. As a child,Chester’s interest in music was piqued by severalinfluences. His father was a music teacher who played old-time fiddle, tuned pianos, and sang with gospel groups.Chester’s older half-brother Jim was a guitarist who lefthome when Chester was a boy to be a performer on radio.Eventually, Jim would join Fred Waring’s Pennsylvanians,where he would meet guitar innovator Les Paul. Jim Atkinswould sing on records as a member of the Les Paul Trio in1939.

During the Depression, the Atkins clan had their ownfamily band with young Chester playing a fiddle broughtto him by an uncle. The fiddle bow had no hair on it soChester went out to his barn and “borrowed” some fromthe tail of his horse, Ol’ Bob. Within two weeks, he hadlearned a few tunes, including “Red Wing” and played it ata dance. Eventually, he began to learn to play guitar, tradinga .32 caliber pistol for his first instrument. The guitar wasmissing some strings, so Chester took some wire from anold screen door and began practicing.

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The Atkins family suf fered greatly during theDepression. Farm life was difficult and luxuries were scarce.Since his family did not own a radio or a record player,Chester would learn music from anyone who came to theirhouse to perform or at his aunt’s house, where there was awindup Victrola and 78s by such artists as Jimmie Rodgersand Blind Lemon Jefferson. According to Atkins, friendswould come over to their house and bring a ukulele andsing popular songs of the day, such as “My Blue Heaven”and “Painting the House with Sunshine.” Atkins alsorecalled favoring music by Jimmie Rodgers, the legendaryBlue Yodeler. Songs such as “Waiting for a Train” and “Tfor Texas” became favorites. One of Atkins’ most vividmemories involved a friend dropping some Jimmie Rodgers78s on some rai l road tracks, smashing them tosmithereens. Atkins mourned the loss since records wereso valued during the Depression by families who had littleother entertainment.

While Atkins was still a boy, his father left home andmoved to Hampton, Georgia. His stepfather played guitaras well, playing finger style. He used to fashion thumbpicksfrom old toothbrush handles which he would whittle downand shape into a pick. Chester also took occasional tripsto New York to visit his brother Jim and absorb everythinghe could about playing guitar.

Atkins suffered from asthma as a boy, and as a result,his mother sent him to live with his father and stepmother

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when he was eleven in hopes that the change in climatewould help his health. Life in Georgia was lonely for Chester,and he turned more and more to the guitar for comfort. Helistened to the radio incessantly, and around 1938, pickedup a radio broadcast from WLW in Cincinnati, Ohio andwas knocked out by a guitar player he heard playing withthe Drifting Pioneers. The guitarist was Merle Travis.

Merle Travis provided Chet Atkins with the style fromwhich he forged his own unique way of playing (Chethonored his idol in later years by naming his daughter Merleafter him.). Initially trying to copy everything Travis played,Atkins soon began incorporating other stylistic elementsof his other heroes, namely George Barnes, Les Paul, andDjango Reinhardt. One can hear all of these readily in oneof the first selections Atkins cut for RCA Victor in 1947, aninstrumental called “Bug Dance.” Atkins distinguished hisown style from that of Travis as follows: both stylesemphasize using the thumb (played with a pick) to providerhythm on the bass strings, and the forefinger to play themelody on the treble strings. Atkins noted that Travis usedto play more on top of the beat and rush his tempo, whichmade it more exciting, whereas his own style was moresimilar to that of a stride piano, where the offbeat isemphasized. Another difference is that although Travisoccasionally played tunes using his middle and ring finger;the Travis style most often utilizes just two fingers. Byincorporating more than just Travis’ style into his own,Atkins used complex fingerings and rhythms requiring allof his fingers.

When he was fifteen, Atkins got a job working for theNYA (National Youth Administration), which was thejuvenile equivalent of the CCC. The NYA put teens to workbuilding gymnasiums, baseball diamonds, and whateverwas needed for school-age children. With the money heearned, Atkins bought an amplifier and pickup from AlliedRadio in Chicago. He later called this a stupid idea becausethe house where he had lived in Georgia didn’t have anyelectricity. As a result, when Atkins’ father drove intoColumbus to teach classical music, Chester would go along,taking his guitar with him. He’d stop at a church, plug in,and practice all day until his father was ready to take himhome.

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In July, 1941, the seventeen-year-old Atkins got hisfirst job on the radio. It was on WRBL, a small 1200 wattradio station in Columbus, Georgia. Chester would singhymns during a program hosted by a radio minister. Heremembered his first song as being “Where is My WanderingBoy Tonight.”

When World War II struck, Chester’s father went toCincinnati to work for a railroad. Chester quit high schooland moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. He moved back homewith his mother and stepfather and got a job playing fiddlewith comedian Archie Campbell and Bill Carlisle (of theCarlisle Brothers) on WNOX. As soon as station managerLowell Blanchard heard Chester play guitar, he gave himhis own solo spot on the “Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round.”(Another young performer on the program in 1943 wassinger Kitty Wells.)

In 1945, Chester Atkins moved on to WLW, the stationwhere he had first heard his idol, Merle Travis (this comingafter he auditioned unsuccessfully for a position with RoyAcuff’s Smoky Mountain Boys). Travis had moved toCalifornia by then, but had returned to Cincinnati to visitfriends when he heard Atkins on the air. Travis was drivingin a snowstorm at the time, but when he heard Atkins playguitar, he had to pull over to the side of the highway, soastounded was he at the technique exhibited by his youngdisciple. The two eventually met and Travis complementedAtkins on his performance. Although closely bondedbecause of their similar styles and respect for one another’splaying, Travis and Atkins did not record together untilthirty years had passed from their first meeting.

On Christmas Eve, 1945, Atkins was fired from hisjob at WLW, thus beginning a nomadic existence hoppingfrom one radio station to the next that would last for fiveyears. It has been theorized that Chet failed to keep hisradio jobs because he was working mainly as a sidemanfor other groups. His ambition and perfectionism apparentlydid not sit well with his bandmates, and he never lastedlonger than a few months at any one station.

In 1946, he worked on WPTF in Raleigh, North Carolinabefore he was fired. He then auditioned for Red Foley, thena star on WLS Chicago’s National Barn Dance. Foley waspreparing to accede to the exalted role of host of WSMNashville’s “Grand Ole Opry,” and when he did, Atkins went

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with him in his band. While in Nashville, he made his firstrecords for the tiny Bullet record label. Billed as “ChesterAtkins and his All Star Hillbillies,” he recorded aninstrumental called “Guitar Blues,” which showed not onlyhis Travis-influenced style, but an amazingly sophisticatedsound for one just 21 years old. Later that year, he quit theOpry when an ad agency forced Red Foley to drop a solospot given to Atkins. He moved on to WRVA’s Old DominionBarn Dance and then to KWTO in Springfield, Missouri.

Atkins’ next move was to Colorado, where he wasplaying on KOA in Denver. Through booking agent SiSiman (who was the first person to start calling him Chet),RCA Victor’s Steve Sholes heard a transcription of Atkinsperforming and tracked him down in Denver. Sholes waslooking for RCA’s answer to Capitol’s Merle Travis; afingerstyle guitar player who could also sing novelty songs.Atkins was hired, beginning a career with RCA that wouldlast for 35 years. On his first session, on August 11, 1947,Chet was surprised to see one of his idols, George Barnes,playing rhythm guitar on his recording session. Chet alwaysloved living in Colorado, and in the state’s honor, namedhis band the Colorado Mountain Boys.

Chet’s success on records was slow in coming, andthe budding recording artist returned to Knoxville wherehe teamed up with Homer (Henry Haynes) and Jethro(Kenneth Burns). As the bumpkins-cum-parodists Homerand Jethro, the duo were uproarious comedians, but whenthey weren’t using their alter egos, they proved to be

Photo by David A. Wolfram

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extraordinarily talented musicians, with Haynes playingDjango Reinhardt-inspired rhythm guitar and Burns ontakeoff mandolin. Along with fiddler Dale Potter and steelguitarist Jerry Byrd, Atkins, Haynes and Burns would formthe nucleus for the hot studio string band the Country All-Stars, which would record for RCA Victor in the early 1950s.

In addition to broadcasting with Homer and Jethro,Chet Atkins also began an association with Maybelle Carterand her three daughters, June, Helen, and Anita. In 1950,Chet returned to the Grand Ole Opry, working as a sidemanfor Hank Williams and the Louvin Brothers in addition tocultivating his own reputation as a stand-out soloist. Twoyears later, he became Steve Sholes’ assistant, supervisingrecording sessions for many of RCA Victor’s country artists.When Sholes and RCA practically stole Elvis Presley fromthe Memphis-based Sun label, Atkins was promoted to headRCA’s studios on 17th Avenue in Nashville. He becamedirector of A&R in 1960.

It is at Chet Atkins’ feet that many people lay the creditand/or the blame for the musical trend known as “TheNashville Sound.” Typified by the removal of traditionalcountry instruments such as the fiddle and steel guitar andreplacing them with pianos, orchestras and backgroundvocals, Atkins sought to expand country music’s audience,which was shrinking due to its appropriation by rock androll. In smoothing out the sound of country music, Atkinsaccepted the responsibility, but in later years regretted hisdecision. Still, without the Nashville Sound, artists such asJim Reeves, Don Gibson, and Eddy Arnold might neverhave been as successful as they were. The success of theNashville Sound enabled country music to survive andAtkins was rewarded by being promoted to vice-presidentof RCA in 1968.

As a recording artist, Chet Atkins became one of RCAVictor’s most prolific and successful acts. His albumstransversed the music spectrum. From his first ten-inchLP, “Chet Atkins’ Gallopin’ Guitar” (1954) on, Atkinsdisplayed an eclectic knowledge of songs ranging frompopular standards and jazz to movie music, show tunes,and even classical melodies. Aware from the beginning thathe was no great singer, Atkins eliminated that part of hisperformance and utilized his easygoing, laconic voice onlyfor effect, as when he sang duets or novelty songs.

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Over the years, some of Chet Atkins’ most acclaimedrecords were his duets with other guitarists, including HankSnow, Jerry Reed, and Doc Watson. In addition, he finallygot to record with two of his idols, Merle Travis and LesPaul. These recordings combined the vir tuosity anddistinctive styles of each artist with an often uproarioussense of humor and spontaneity.

After leaving RCA in 1982, Chet Atkins signed withColumbia Records. His recording efforts had been curtailedsignificantly because of his duties with RCA, but withColumbia, he returned to his roots, awarded himself thehonorary degree of Certified Guitar Player (C.G.P.), andrecorded a series of well-received albums of stripped-downguitar albums. Now celebrating his 50th year as a recordingartist, Chet Atkins continues as one of the most respectedand honored musicians in popular music. He was electedto the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1973. On the plaque,it states that Chet Atkins is “a musician’s musician and agentleman’s gentleman.” But no title could be moreappropriate for Chet Atkins than the one pinned on him inthe 1950s: “Mister Guitar.”

DOC WATSON

If not for the investigations of two traveling folklorists,it is possible that Doc Watson would have spent the rest ofhis life playing guitar and singing in the towns of the

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southern Appalachian Mountains. But since 1960, Watsonhas become a walking museum of songs and styles fromthe earliest days of Anglo-American folk song. Part of hisfame is due to his ability to adapt with the times withoutsubmitting to compromising his style or his sensibilities. Agood example is his 1995 Sugar Hill CD, “Docabilly,” inwhich Watson adapts his flatpicking guitar to rockabillyclassics such as “Shake, Rattle & Roll” and “Bird Dog.”Recognizing the fact that no music exists today in avacuum, Doc Watson has allowed himself to be influencedby the changing musical landscape, much as Chet Atkinsdid, with each influence enhancing rather than detractingfrom his own personal style.

Arthel “Doc” Watson was born on March 23, 1923 inStoney Fork, North Carolina. When he was an infant, hewas blinded by an eye disease. As with many similarlyafflicted people, this only sharpened his keen ear, and Docshowed a musical aptitude at an early age. The Watsonhousehold always seemed to have music playing. Doc’sfather, General Dixon Watson, played banjo and jaw harpand was also a song leader in church. When Doc was sixor seven, his father acquired a phonograph and a supplyof hillbilly 78s. Doc was exposed to records in both blackand white tradition, favoring records by Jimmie Rodgers,The Carter Family, Mississippi John Hurt, Frank Hutchison,the Delmore Brothers, and Buell Kazee, among others. Theexposure to commercial phonograph records onlyenhanced Doc’s sense of Appalachian folk song tradition;he would apply this sound to the new ones he heard on78s.

Doc’s first instrument was a homemade fretless banjowith a head made from the hide of his grandmother’s oldcat. At thirteen, he got his first guitar, a Stella his fatherpurchased for twelve dollars. His performing began a fewyears later when he teamed up with his brother Linny as aduo. In 1940, he acquired a Martin D-28 and started singingon the streets of Lenore, South Carolina. He also playedoccasional fiddlers’ conventions and contests. When hemarried Rosa Lee Carlton in 1947, he found a mentor ofinestimable influence, Rosa Lee’s father, Gaither Carlton.An accomplished old-time fiddler, Carlton introduced Docto many traditional mountain tunes and folk songs thathelped Doc expand his repertoire even further.

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By 1953, Doc had improved enough that he was ableto play music professionally. He performed with a numberof groups in towns such as Johnson City, Bristol, Kingsport,and Blowing Rock. The music he per formed wascontemporary country music, the hit songs performed onthe radio by the likes of Carl Smith, Hank Williams, andKitty Wells. He learned many different styles on guitar, fromthe rapid-fire flatpicking of Alton Delmore to the thumbpickand finger style of Merle Travis.

In September, 1960, folklorists Ralph Rinzler andEugene Earle, searching for folk musicians to record inthe Blue Ridge Mountains, heard about Doc Watson throughClarence Tom Ashley, an old-time fiddler who had maderecords in the 1920s and 1930s When they finally metWatson at his home, Doc was holding a 1950s model GoldTop Gibson Les Paul electric guitar in his hands. Not exactlywhat you would expect from a mountain-style guitarist,but in short order, the folklorists found that they haddiscovered a musician who was not only uncommonlytalented, but who was also a repository of American folkmusic. Encouraged by Rinzler and Earle, Watson returnedto his roots, and joined Ashley, Clint Howard, and FredPrice to form a group for recording and for l iveperformances. At the height of the urban folk music revival,Doc Watson instantaneously became an icon for the newschool rediscovering America’s musical roots.

Doc Watson’s first albums were recorded for Folkwaysand included both the Ashley group as well as members of

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his family. By the end of 1962, he was appearing at thenoted Greenwich Village club, Gerde’s Folk City. A yearlater, he was presented in a double bill with Bill Monroeand his Bluegrass Boys at New York’s Town Hall. Watson’ssuccessful appearance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963earned him a record deal with Vanguard, where he recordeda series of highly popular albums during the 1960s.

In 1964, Doc was joined on his records by his 15-year-old son, Merle. Born Eddy Merle Watson, Doc’s only sonwas named for Eddy Arnold, the Tennessee Plowboy, andone of Doc’s idols, the legendary Merle Travis. Merle Watsonproved to be an accomplished guitarist, a quick learner,and his father’s accompanist, road manager, and chauffeur.He also added the slide guitar to his musical arsenal,becoming proficient in many styles, from Hawaiian tobluegrass to Western swing.

Doc Watson’s recordings and concert appearancesencompass an astounding diversity of music history andstyles. From ancient fiddle tunes translated to his crispflatpicking guitar (“Double File & Salt Creek”) to rousingblues (“You Don’t Know My Mind”), Jimmie Rodgers tunes(“In the Jailhouse Now”), and Gershwin (“Summertime”),there seemed to be no kind of American music Doc Watsoncouldn’t play. His voice: warm, rich, and expressive wascapable of exquisite emotion, especially on JimmieRodgers ballads such as “Miss the Mississippi and You”and “Treasures Untold.”

Doc & Merle Watson Photo courtesy of Doc Watson

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Even after over thirty years of performing before thepublic, Doc has changed little since 1960. He still sitsstraight up against the microphone, mouth harp at theready, guitar poised perpendicular to his body. One doesn’tsee much emotion in his face or in his playing, but it canbe heard in his voice and in his guitar.

A tragedy of monumental proportions occurred in 1985when Merle Watson was killed in a tractor accident at hisNorth Carolina home. He was only 36. Merle had beendestined to be his father’s successor, the one to carry onthe musical tradition represented by three precedinggenerations of Watson family musicians. But despite thedevastating loss of his only son, Doc Watson could no morecease playing music than he could draw a breath, and hehas continued to this day, although he curtailed his touringwhen he reached his 1970s

Doc Watson has never had a commercial hit in themusic business, but his records have sold steadily and hisconcert performances have been consistently attended andenthusiastically received. If he had had even one hit onthe country charts, he would have been a shoo-in for theCountry Music Hall of Fame, as were his predecessors,Merle Travis and Chet Atkins. But Doc Watson’s influenceon country and folk music styles is no less important thanthose of Travis and Atkins and he continues in his role as aliving monument to American folk music.

Doc & Merle Watson with T. Michael Coleman

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THE PERFORMANCES

Legends of Country Guitar includes selected liveperformances, both in concert settings as well as informalones by the four guitarists profiled above. Since Mose Ragermade few public appearances, film of him performing theclassic “Muhlenberg Sound” on guitar are scarce. Oneilluminating segment leads off our retrospective featuringRager, in prime form, playing Merle Travis’ “I Am A Pilgrim.”The mild-mannered interviewer who is comfortably seatedin the chair next to Rager is none other than D.K. Wilgus(1918-1989), one of the century’s preeminent folkloristsand a champion of old-time music. A performer himself,Wilgus hailed from West Mansfield Ohio, and while a studenton the campus of Ohio State University in 1936, becameone of the nation’s first campus folksingers, playing hillbillyand folk tunes. Wilgus would found the Kentucky FolkloreRecord in 1955 and later became a professor of folklore atUCLA, where he inaugurated the UCLA Folk Festival. Heasks Rager about where he learned the thumb-and-fingerstyle of playing guitar and Rager speaks of anotherMuhlenberg County guitarist named Levi Foster, who livedin the town of Depoy. Foster, who was a black man, playedthe style without a thumbpick. According to Charles Wolfe

Chet A

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in his book “Kentucky Country” (Lexington: University ofKentucky Press, 1982, p. 110), Foster “played in an opentuning and experimented with sliding a knife up and downhis strings to get a steel guitar effect.”

The segments featuring Chet Atkins are drawn fromtwo sources: the syndicated television programs “Pop Goesthe Country” and PBS’ “Austin City Limits.” In Atkins’hands, Scott Joplin’s rag, “The Entertainer,” made famousby Marvin Hamlisch in the 1973 motion picture “The Sting,”is played softly and gently, totally unlike the sprightly pianoversion. Chet hunches lovingly over his guitar, watchinghis fingers work the strings as if they belonged to someoneelse. It’s a beautiful performance that emphasizes thesweetness of the melody as opposed to the walking ragtimerhythm inherent in the genre. The accompanist is PaulYandell. (The viewer is asked to ignore Chet’s garishly wide-lapeled polka-dot shirt. This is, after all, the 1970s.)

Next comes a duet with one of Chet Atkins’ favoritepickin’ par tners, the irrepressible Jerry Reed. Thechemistry between these two Merle Travis disciples isdelicious to watch: Atkins craning his head to watch Reedplay and Reed laughing, joking, and mugging while pickingwith all f ive f ingers. Theirs is clearly a symbioticrelationship. The normally taciturn Atkins is ignited byReed’s exhortations to “do it, son!” and Reed seems toamaze himself with his furious, lightning-fast picking. Thesong is a Reed original, entitled “Jerry’s Breakdown,” which

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appears on the pair’s 1972 duet album, “Me and Chet”(RCA LSP-4707).

Chet Atkins has always had a soft spot for the musicof the Beatles; his album “Chet Atkins Picks on the Beatles”(RCA Victor LSP-3531) was issued in 1966. In interviews,Chet prides himself in giving the public something differentin his performances; the compositions of Paul McCartneyand John Lennon, with their melodic and chordalcomplexity, certainly satisfies that credo. Atkins performsa medley of three Beatles tunes: “For No One,”“Something,” and “Lady Madonna.”

Merle Travis can be given partial credit for translatingthe fiddle tune “Black Mountain Rag” to the guitar. Here,Chet Atkins plays it with as much gentility as a rag can beplayed.

Written in 1965 by the Cree Indian/activist BuffySainte-Marie, “Until It’s Time for You to Go” is given a lyricaltreatment by Atkins, who is backed this time by a smallband.

Cy Coben was a Nashville-based songwriter who oftenwrote witty, clever tunes. His 1953 song, “Eddy’s Tune,”was written for Eddy Arnold and consisted chiefly of songtitles of many of his previous hits. Coben’s 1967 “Chet’sTune,” with artist credit to “Some of Chet Friends” is a

Merle Travis & Jerry Reed Photo courtesy of the Merle Travis Estate

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tribute to Atkins by 21 RCA Victor country artists, witheach line delivered by one performer. “This String,” whichnames and defines each of the six strings on a guitar, iscustom-written for Atkins’ laconic, lazy, half-spoken, half-sung delivery. Chet never fancied himself much of a singer,which is OK, because his all-too infrequent vocals are thusentirely natural and unpretentious. Some of the melodiesChet incorporates into the song include “El RanchoGrande,” “Grandfather’s Clock,” and, as a coda, “YaketyAxe.”

Chet Atkins has always been fond of pretty melodiessuch as Percy Wenrich’s “Rainbow,” written in 1908. Herehe plays an acoustic version of the song, which has alsobecome a staple in fiddlers’ repertoires.

Atkins was never as exciting as Doc Watson or MerleTravis as a guitarist, but he was clearly smoother in hisperformances. In many instances, such as the performanceof Bill and Earl Bolick’s (The Blue Sky Boys) “Kentucky,”his style resembles that of a classical rather than a countryguitarist, as evidenced by the variation of dynamics andeven his physical posture in playing the instrument.

One of Merle Travis’s biggest fans is his son ThomBresh. Born in Hollywood, California, Bresh began playingguitar and acting when he was seven. He performed withHank Penny in the early 1960s. In addition to copyingTravis’s guitar style, Bresh also does a fair vocal impressionof his father (his version of “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! ThatCigarette” made the country charts in 1978). “NashvilleSwing” was a Canadian-based variety show that Breshhosted. The 1979 appearance by Merle Travis was ahighlight for him. The show was loose and freewheeling,with Bresh keeping up with his dad on every song. On thefirst track, we see Travis and Bresh trading licks and lyricsin a medley of Travis’s hit songs that includes “Nine PoundHammer,” “Fat Gal,” “Sweet Temptation,” “So Round, SoFirm, So Fully Packed,” “Divorce Me, C.O.D.,” and “16Tons.”

The second song is “Mutual Admiration,” a tune thatTravis recorded with Chet Atkins on their landmark LP, “TheAtkins-Travis Traveling Show.” It was written by cartoonist/cum country songwriter Shel Silverstein, who penned thesong in the talking blues tradit ion that made hiscomposition “A Boy Named Sue” a smash for a guy named

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Cash. “Mutual Admiration” sums up the good-naturedrelationship between Travis and Bresh.

The segments featuring Doc Watson are from anappearance on Iowa Public Television in 1987. Watson isjoined by bassist T. Michael Coleman and guitarist JeffAlexander, replacing the late Merle Watson, who had diedtwo years earlier. In the first song, the Delmore Brothers’“Freight Train Boogie,” Watson picks in the rapid-fire flatpicking style of Alton Delmore. The art of playing guitarand harmonica simultaneously is not an easy one, and asa result, has not been mastered by many artists. Doclearned it by listening to recording artists such as Bill Cox,who made records for the ARC (American RecordCorporation) labels in the 1930s.

“I Don’t Love Nobody” is a traditional fiddle tune thatwas given lyrics in the 1930s, becoming “She’s Killing Me,”performed by Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys and otherwestern swing groups. Doc Watson played a lot of fiddletunes on the guitar such as this one; there is some greatclose-up work of Doc’s left hand in action.

On John D. Loudermilk’s “Windy and Warm,” Doc putson the thumb pick and does a little Travis picking. After“Travelin’ Man,” Doc introduces Roy Acuff’s “Streamlined

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Cannonball,” mentioning lightheartedly the inappro-priateness of Acuff’s original waltz-time version (“a traindoesn’t waltz down the tracks, it moves”). He then zipsinto a driving flatpicking version of the tune.

Returning momentarily to Mose Rager, we find theKentucky guitarist retired and looking as if more time hadpassed than just thirteen years since the footage that opensthis tape. The segment is taken from a 1975 documentaryon the Everly Brothers, who returned to Drakesboro to visitwith Rager, an old friend of their late father, Ike. Rager playsthe old Bessie Smith floodwater lament, “Back WaterBlues,” and then “Cannonball Rag.”

The final segment is some home video footage of arelaxed Merle Travis playing “Muskrat” (from the “FolkSongs from the Hills” album), “Dapper Dan,” a chestnutwritten by Tin Pan Alley composers Albert Von Tilzer andLew Brown and recorded by Travis in 1948, and “GuitarRag,” which Travis wrote in honor of his idol, Mose Rager.In retrospect, the song is also autobiographical, since MerleTravis became almost single-handedly responsible forspreading the infectious, rhythmic music from MuhlenbergCounty, Kentucky to the rest of the world.

And finally, a bit of foolishness on the farm from MerleTravis - a smashing way to end this retrospective on countryguitar pickin’.

Mose R

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Vestapol 13070Running Time: 58 minutes

Color and B&WNationally distributed by Rounder Records,One Camp Street, Cambridge, MA 02140

Representation to Music Stores byMel Bay Publications

® 2002 Vestapol ProductionsA division of

Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop Inc.

ISBN: 1-57940-924-5

Mose RagerI Am A Pilgrim (1962)

Chet AtkinsThe Entertainer (1975)

Jerry's Breakdown (1975)

Beatles’ Medley: For NoOne, Something,Lady Madonna (1977)

Black Mountain Rag (1978)

This String (1979)

Rainbows (1980)

Kentucky (1987)

Until It's Time ForYou To Go (1978)

Merle TravisMedley: Nine Pound

Hammer, Fat Gal,Sweet Temptation,So Round, So Firm, SoFully Packed, Divorce Me,C.O.D. & 16 Tons (1979)

Mutual Admiration (1979)

Doc WatsonFreight Train Boogie (1987)

I Don't Love Nobody (1987)

Windy And Warm (1987)

Streamline Train (1987)

Travellin' Man (1987)

Mose RagerBackwater Blues (1984)

Cannonball Rag (1984)

Merle TravisMus'krat (1981)

Dapper Dan From Dixieland (1981)

Guitar Rag (1981)

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