category: country / folk / blues

[from the CD liner notes]:
"This warm 1959 concert recording of guitar picker, songwriter and entertainer Merle Travis demonstrates, as well as any recording can, how he successfully earned a strong following in both folk and country music circles. This night's performance catches him in top form, performing folksongs "John Henry", guitar showcases "Cannonball Rag" and his own classics "Sixteen Tons" and "Dark As A Dungeon". -- Rounder Records 2003

CD Track Listing

  All compositions by Merle Travis except where noted

  1. Nine Pound Hammer (1:51)
  2. ~ welcoming remarks ~ (0:43)
  3. Goodbye My Bluebelle (instrumental) () (2:26)
  4. Dark As A Dungeon (3:14)
  5. John Henry (trad. arr. M.Travis) (2:51)
  6. ~ reminiscences about the film "From Here To Eternity" ~ (0:41)
  7. Re-Enlistment Blues (Karger / Wells / Jones) (2:56)
  8. I'll See You in My Dreams (instrumental) (Kahn / Jones) (1:45)
  9. ~ "Sixteen Tons" intro ~ (0:43)
10. Sixteen Tons (3:11)
11. Saturday Night Shuffle (instrumental) (1:08)
12. ~ remarks about kids' songs ~ (0:37)
13. Muskrat (Hensley / Travis) (2:08)
14. That's All (3:27)
15. Lost John (trad. arr. M.Travis) (1:52)
16. ~ comic rap ~ (0:22)
17. Cannonball Rag (instrumental) (1:38)
18. Memphis Blues (instrumental) (W.C.Handy) (2:30)
19. ~ remarks about Hollywood, trains, eating ~ (0:34)
20. Hominy Grits (Smiley Burnett) (2:58)
21. Liza Jane (M.Christian) (1:25)
22. I Am a Pilgrim (3:23)

Total timing: 42:31

Label/No: Rounder Records 0451

Release date: (c)1959, 2003 reissue