category: country / blues / folk

CD Track Listing

  1. The Down South Blues (Merle Travis) - RED RIVER TRIO (1945) (2:20)
  2. I'm Learning to Live Without You (Autry / Bond / Folger) - RED RIVER TRIO (1945) (2:21)
  3. Be Brave My Darling (composer unkown) - RED RIVER TRIO (1945) (2:09)
  4. You're Breaking This Poor Heart of Mine (Cooley / Rogers) - RED RIVER TRIO (1945) (1:49)
  5. Boogie Woogie Cowboy (Dean / Blair / Statham / Snow) - JIMMIE DEAN & HIS TRAIL RIDERS (1944) (2:21)
  6. Cimarron (Johnny Bond) - JIMMIE DEAN & HIS TRAIL RIDERS (1944) (1:46)
  7. Born to Lose (Ted Daffon) - WESLEY TUTTLE & HIS COON HUNTERS (1944-45) (3:01)
  8. A & E Hornpipe (composer unkown) - WESLEY TUTTLE & HIS COON HUNTERS (1944-45) (1:32)
  9. I Want to Be Wanted (Bob Atcher) - WESLEY TUTTLE & HIS COON HUNTERS (1944-45) (2:40)
10. I'll Forgive You But I Can't Forget (composer unkown) - RED RIVER TRIO (1945) (2:28)
11. When You and I Were Young, Maggie (trad. arr. Merle Travis) - RED RIVER TRIO (1945) (1:21)
12. This Ain't the Same Old Range (Bob Nolan) - RED RIVER TRIO (1945) (3:09)
13. You're Gonna Pay (Cooley / Rogers) - RED RIVER TRIO (1945) (2:23)
14. Nobody (Rogers / Williams) - MERLE TRAVIS (1946) (2:24)
15. If I Didn't Care (Jack Lawrence) - CLIFFIE STONE'S WESTERN STARS (1946) (4:00)
16. Jokes - JOHNNY BOND & MERLE TRAVIS (1947) (0:47)
17. John Bolin (Merle Travis) - MERLE TRAVIS, JIMMY WAKELY & SLIM DUNCAN (1947) (3:16)
18. Johnson Rag () - MERLE TRAVIS (1950) (3:22)
19. Petticoat Fever (Merle Travis) - MERLE TRAVIS (1950) (2:11)
20. I'm Ridin' the Rails (composer unkown) - WESLEY TUTTLE & HIS COON HUNTERS (1944-45) (2:39)
21. Weary Lonesome Blues (Alton & Rabon Delmore) - WESLEY TUTTLE & HIS COON HUNTERS (1944-45) (2:18)
22. Catalog Cowboy Joe (Merle Travis) - MERLE TRAVIS TRIO (1946) (1:36)
23. Gettin' Some Sleep (Smiley Burnette) - SMILEY BURNETTE (1946) (1:40)
24. Texas Home (Travis / Atchison) - MERLE TRAVIS TRIO (1946) (1:29)
25. There'll Be Some Changes Made (Overstreet / Higgins) - MERLE TRAVIS (1946) (0:59)
26. Fireball Mail (Roy Acuff) - JOHNNY BOND & MERLE TRAVIS (1946) (2:19)
27. I've Got the Weary Lonesome Blues (Alton & Rabon Delmore) - JOHNNY BOND & MERLE TRAVIS (1946) (1:55)
28. John Henry (trad.arr. Merle Travis) - MERLE TRAVIS (1956) (2:43)
29. Cannon Ball Rag (Merle Travis) - MERLE TRAVIS (1956) (1:25)

Merle Travis plays lead / rhythm guitar on every track
Merle: guitar instrumentals only - tracks 1, 11, 18, 25, 29
Merle: vocal / guitar (no accompaniment) - tracks 14, 19
Merle: vocal / guitar (w/group accompaniment) - tracks 22, 24, 28

Johnny Bond (Red River Trio): vocal - tracks: 2, 3, 4, 10, 12, 13

Jimmie Dean & His Trail Riders: vocal / harmony vocals - tracks 5, 6

Wesley Tuttle & His Coon Hunters: vocal / harmony vocals - tracks 7, 8, 9, 20, 21

Cliffie Stone's Western Stars: vocal / harmony vocals - track 15

Redd Harper: emcee - tracks 18, 19

Judy Clark & The Rhythm Cowgirls: vocal / harmony vocals - track 22

Smiley Burnette: vocal - track 23

Total timing: 64:35

Label/No: Country Routes 29 (UK import)

Release date: (c)1944-56, 2003 reissue