Specifications:
No one revolutionized country guitar playing like Merle Travis. He gave his name to an entire style of playing...or picking. He influenced Chet Atkins, and just about every rockabilly guitarist on the planet. There is very little video of Merle Travis in his prime, so Bear Family is very proud to present one of the geniuses of the guitar at the peak of his skills.
Guitarists will be able to look at his fingers and try to figure out the deceptive simplicity of his style. Everyone else can just enjoy some relaxed, lyrical, and easy-on-the-ear country music. These 25 performances are a dazzling mixture of songs that Travis learned growing up in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, together with his hits, and even a tune, "Main Street Breakdown" , by his disciple, Chet Atkins.
Very few artists truly revolutionized their music, but Merle Travis did! Country guitar playing would never be the same after Travis, and when young country guitarists turned Travis picking into rock 'n' roll, they invented rockabilly guitar. Scotty Moore, Cliff Gallup, James Burton and others were all disciples of Merle!
DVD Track Listing
SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER, 1958:
1. Introduction by Jay Stewart
2. Fat Gal (Merle Travis)
3. Under The Double Eagle (public domain)
4. Deep South (Merle Travis / Woody Hill)
5. Sourwood Mountain (public domain)
6. If You Can't Go Right Don't Go Wrong (Wakely / Blackwell)
7. Bugle Call Rag (Schoebel / Meyers / Pettis)
8. Main Street Breakdown (Chet Atkins)
9. Goodbye My Blue Bell (Morse / Madden) 
10. Way Down Yonder In New Orleans (Creamer / Layton)
11. Squaws Along The Yukon (Cam Smith)
12. Ma, He's Making Eyes At Me (Clare / Conrad)
13. Nine Pound Hammer (Merle Travis)
14. I'll See You In My Dreams (Jones / Kahn)
JANUARY-DECEMBER, 1959:
15. Cannonball Rag (Merle Travis)
16. Won't You Ride In My Little Red Wagon (R.Griffin)
17. Ike Everly's Rag (Ike Everly)
18. Tuck Me To Sleep In My Old 'Tucky Home (Meyer / Lewis / Young)
19. Cincinnati Lou (Merle Travis / Shug Fisher)
20. Back Home In Indiana (MacDonald / Hanley)
21. House Of David Blues (Schoebel)
22. Squaws Along The Yukon (Cam Smith)
23. Cuddle Up A Little Closer (Friedlander)
24. Tuck Me To Sleep In My Old 'Tucky Home (Meyer / Lewis / Young)
25. Hominy Grits (Smiley Burnette)
26. Midnight Special (public domain)
(running time: 68-min) (Digipac with 16-page booklet) (NTSC regional coded all)
A little about 'Town Hall Party'...!
'Town Hall Party' was California's largest country music barndance, running from early 1952 until early 1961. The show was broadcast every Saturday night from a theatre made up to look like an old barn in the Compton suburb of Los Angeles. Crowds numbering up to 2000 would fill the old Town Hall to see and hear the top country artists of the day. The first hour was broadcast live over KFI and reached a wider audience when NBC syndicated the show on radio. The broadcast was extended to three hours when KTTV-TV televised the show. Jay Stewart (who later hosted the TV quiz show 'Let's Make a Deal'), and Tex Ritter were the MC's and the house band featured a 'Who's Who' of West Coast country music, including Joe Maphis, Merle Travis, Skeets McDonald, Johnny Bond and Tommy Duncan. Artists appearing on the show included The Collins Kids, Carl Perkins, Jim Reeves, Patsy Cline, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Wanda Jackson and Johnny Cash. The show was so popular that, in 1958, Columbia Records issued the 'Town Hall Party' album featuring various cast members.
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