What a fantastic interview. A very humble man. Did you all notice how he always downplayed his own abilities as a singer and guitarist, but lit up whenever he mentioned his influences and favorite musicians? I remember my uncle would get excited at the mention of Merle. He was a great guitar player and singer, too...having been influenced by Travis growing up in the 30s and 40s. He played all his songs. It's wonderful.
Great documentary.... Thanx very much to share. I spent my life to try to understand Merle Travis guitar pickin' . I visited Kentucky and particulalry the Mulhenberg County and had the chance to meet Mose Rager's daughter.
This was a good interview about an imporant American guitarist. I really liked hearing this in long form because it gave me a sense of his demeanor... He seems very nonchalant abut his prowess.
I assume you have heard his son, Thom Bresh, tell stories as well? Bresh can regale you for hours with his stories about any celebrity (or common man) than you can imagine, including his Pop.
Today is the first time Ive heard of Merle.. a link from a Gretsch Guitar site... Im just teaching myself to play and i want a Gretsch. My family is from Kentucky, and i just cant get enough of his speech and draw... my elder still talk like this, the ones that are still livin, and i miss it so.... i don't get to hear them much. .......
A Gretsch is the greatest guitar ever made and many were designed by Chet Atkins just for fingerpicking! Enjoy as it's a lifetime of pleasure once you get the hang of it. For other types of music Fender and Gibson are very good guitars too. For sheer beauty and playability of fingerstyle with your thumb and 3 fingers tho Gretsch is the best. I know because I have been finger-picking for over 60 years and am still active!
BRILLIANT, IN EVERY CONCEIVABLE WAY. WHAT A SMART BRAIN HE HAD, ALL THOSE NAMES AND FACTS POURED OUT OF HIS MOUTH WITHOUT PAUSE OR HESITATION; NO WONDER HE WAS ABLE TO MAKE HIS GUITAR SOUND LIKE 3 MUSICIANS , PLAYING SIMULTANEOUSLY. GREAT QUALITY RECORDING TOO. GLAD HE GAVE THE ACTUAL DATE & PLACE. i FIRST HEARD MERLES MUSIC WHEN I BORROWED A COPY OF HIS 4 TRACK 7 INCH E.P VINYL, IN 1957. I WAS ASTONISHED ,AND HOOKED.
After hearing this full interview, I feel like I've known Merle all my life. Sounds like one of the family and a very cool cat...Great listening. Thanks fr posting it...👍
Merle was a bonafide genius and something of an enigma, even after an interview like this...a very private person who didn't really care for the spotlight. You notice toward the end that he doesn't even acknowledge his brief marriage to TexAnn Nation.
What a great interview! Great questions ,and even better answers! Merle's stories have always been so interesting to me. I'm glad my dad showed me who he was ,and how he picked. I learned alot from Merle, made me a better guitar player.
This is absolutely priceless! I love music history, especially about famous guitar players. I am a BIG fan of the thumb picking Travis style guitar. I was in Drakesboro, KY just last weekend attending a Kentucky Thumb Pickers jam session. Great little town of great pickers and great people. Mereles grave memorial is there and recently his son Thom Bresh was buried there.
there is on facebook a site for guitar players that doesn't allow 'political songs'. so, just before i quit it, i posted that merle travis had written two of the most political songs that ought to be heard more, 16 tons, and dark as a dungeon. merle was a terrific individual, not just for his amazing guitar work. i went to see him in san francisco but he was ailing by then and had to cancel. thanks for posting this.
I love Merle, used to try a little Travis Pickin' but never got too great at it. This is a wonderful interview, so thanks for posting. I tend to think of him as the Jimi Hendrix of country guitar since he was so innovative. Of course, Chet Atkins was inspired by Merle but for my tastes Chet is too perfect/clinical and generally lacks the soul of Merle's picking.
Well spoken. I fully agree with your sentiment on Chet Atkins vs Merle, while Atkins was flawless and an incredible guitar player, I was also always more drawn to the soul of Merles playing. The big difference in technique between the two in this thumbpicking style was Chet really articulated each bassnote and often altered between three bass strings (the lowest on the guitar), while Merle Travis played a more oohm-pah kind of bass-chord-bass-chord style. He would basically strum a chord on the second and fourth beat while playing bass notes on the low g string on first and third beat, while Chet did clean 1 string bass notes all the time giving it that more "clinical" feel. Also Merle only played melody with his index finger, he never used the other fingers, as was customary in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky where he learned the style form Mose Rager and Kennedy Jones. So the reason Chet could achieve such incredible speeds in runs and licks was he used more fingers but it lacked the feel of the original thumb/index style.
My grandmother had feet so flat she couldn't wear shoes and had to wear moccasins. I thought it was because she didn't have shoes as a kid, but it was her Indian blood. My dad made 50 cents a day digging graves.
@@jakepatty4350 beauty is in the eye of the beholder... so ur right from ur side and i'm right from mine. every time i see that guitar i laugh and i dont kno y :)
What a fantastic interview.
A very humble man. Did you all notice how he always downplayed his own abilities as a singer and guitarist, but lit up whenever he mentioned his influences and favorite musicians? I remember my uncle would get excited at the mention of Merle. He was a great guitar player and singer, too...having been influenced by Travis growing up in the 30s and 40s. He played all his songs.
It's wonderful.
Great listening! A very talented man - and he seemed genuinely humble and down-to-earth, considering his stature in the music business.
Adventure, Courage, Forward Thinking. Great Interview. Great talent. Chet Atkins looked to Merle as his hero.
Great documentary.... Thanx very much to share. I spent my life to try to understand Merle Travis guitar pickin' . I visited Kentucky and particulalry the Mulhenberg County and had the chance to meet Mose Rager's daughter.
Thats amazing, do you have any stories to share?
This was a good interview about an imporant American guitarist. I really liked hearing this in long form because it gave me a sense of his demeanor... He seems very nonchalant abut his prowess.
Enriching commentary from one of the greatest guitarists ever.
NAME A BETTER ONE, EVEN THE GREAT CHET ATKINS BOWED TO HIS GENIUS, AND CLAIMED HE WAS HIS GREATEST INFLUENCE.
This is great. Always such a pleasure to hear Merle, whether picking or telling stories. I hope there's more of this down the road.
I assume you have heard his son, Thom Bresh, tell stories as well? Bresh can regale you for hours with his stories about any celebrity (or common man) than you can imagine, including his Pop.
What a Prince of a guy! Great interview
Today is the first time Ive heard of Merle.. a link from a Gretsch Guitar site... Im just teaching myself to play and i want a Gretsch. My family is from Kentucky, and i just cant get enough of his speech and draw... my elder still talk like this, the ones that are still livin, and i miss it so.... i don't get to hear them much. .......
A Gretsch is the greatest guitar ever made and many were designed by Chet Atkins just for fingerpicking! Enjoy as it's a lifetime of pleasure once you get the hang of it. For other types of music Fender and Gibson are very good guitars too. For sheer beauty and playability of fingerstyle with your thumb and 3 fingers tho Gretsch is the best. I know because I have been finger-picking for over 60 years and am still active!
What a teller! Telling history like he were telling a story.
BRILLIANT, IN EVERY CONCEIVABLE WAY. WHAT A SMART BRAIN HE HAD, ALL THOSE NAMES AND FACTS POURED OUT OF HIS MOUTH WITHOUT PAUSE OR HESITATION; NO WONDER HE WAS ABLE TO MAKE HIS GUITAR SOUND LIKE 3 MUSICIANS , PLAYING SIMULTANEOUSLY. GREAT QUALITY RECORDING TOO. GLAD HE GAVE THE ACTUAL DATE & PLACE.
i FIRST HEARD MERLES MUSIC WHEN I BORROWED A COPY OF HIS 4 TRACK 7 INCH E.P VINYL, IN 1957. I WAS ASTONISHED ,AND HOOKED.
After hearing this full interview, I feel like I've known Merle all my life. Sounds like one of the family and a very cool cat...Great listening. Thanks fr posting it...👍
" if it weren't for Merle Travis I'd not know 'What's to play">Maestro Chester Atkins( once declared)
This is a wonderful resource. Thank you so much for it
Merle is the man. excellent interview
Merle was a bonafide genius and something of an enigma, even after an interview like this...a very private person who didn't really care for the spotlight. You notice toward the end that he doesn't even acknowledge his brief marriage to TexAnn Nation.
What a great interview! Great questions ,and even better answers! Merle's stories have always been so interesting to me. I'm glad my dad showed me who he was ,and how he picked. I learned alot from Merle, made me a better guitar player.
that old webcor recorder did a good job very clear i hope you have put this tape on a cd disc for preservation. Bob
merle influnced more boys my age to learn guitar i started playing back in late forties never did learn the thumb style
This is absolutely priceless! I love music history, especially about famous guitar players. I am a BIG fan of the thumb picking Travis style guitar. I was in Drakesboro, KY just last weekend attending a Kentucky Thumb Pickers jam session. Great little town of great pickers and great people. Mereles grave memorial is there and recently his son Thom Bresh was buried there.
I didn't know that Thom had died😢
Great interview!! Thank you for posting this!!
Without Merle there would not have been Chet Atkins my two hero's
there is on facebook a site for guitar players that doesn't allow 'political songs'. so, just before i quit it, i posted that merle travis had written two of the most political songs that ought to be heard more, 16 tons, and dark as a dungeon. merle was a terrific individual, not just for his amazing guitar work. i went to see him in san francisco but he was ailing by then and had to cancel. thanks for posting this.
Thats interesting, when did you see him in San Francisco? What do you mean he was ailing?
I love Merle, used to try a little Travis Pickin' but never got too great at it. This is a wonderful interview, so thanks for posting. I tend to think of him as the Jimi Hendrix of country guitar since he was so innovative. Of course, Chet Atkins was inspired by Merle but for my tastes Chet is too perfect/clinical and generally lacks the soul of Merle's picking.
Well spoken. I fully agree with your sentiment on Chet Atkins vs Merle, while Atkins was flawless and an incredible guitar player, I was also always more drawn to the soul of Merles playing.
The big difference in technique between the two in this thumbpicking style was Chet really articulated each bassnote and often altered between three bass strings (the lowest on the guitar), while Merle Travis played a more oohm-pah kind of bass-chord-bass-chord style. He would basically strum a chord on the second and fourth beat while playing bass notes on the low g string on first and third beat, while Chet did clean 1 string bass notes all the time giving it that more "clinical" feel. Also Merle only played melody with his index finger, he never used the other fingers, as was customary in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky where he learned the style form Mose Rager and Kennedy Jones. So the reason Chet could achieve such incredible speeds in runs and licks was he used more fingers but it lacked the feel of the original thumb/index style.
Exactly. And you really know your stuff about the details of Merle's technique. Time now for me to give "Walking the Strings" another spin!
Both Chet and Doc Watson named a child "Merle" in honor of Travis, Chet a daughter and Doc a son.
My grandmother had feet so flat she couldn't wear shoes and had to wear moccasins. I thought it was because she didn't have shoes as a kid, but it was her Indian blood. My dad made 50 cents a day digging graves.
the songs at the end of this interview I couldn't do in 100 years and with only 2 fingers?
I visited his grave while on a weekend date.
I am not famous yet!!! but my life and Merle, are very similar!!
Does anyone know who the interviewer Ed is? This is a treasure
Ed Kahn
Who is the interviewer? Ed _____?
Ed Kahn. You can find his complete folklore collections by googling.
Drakesbruh. That's British pronunciation, We say Peterbruh, not Peterborough.
but thats the ugliest guitar that ever played a note
WRONG
@@jakepatty4350 beauty is in the eye of the beholder... so ur right from ur side and i'm right from mine. every time i see that guitar i laugh and i dont kno y :)