ventures into the first electric guitars.Let’s take a look at the several reasons Merle Travis remains an icon in guitar history, including his: He even appeared in some of the earliest music videos, called ‘soundies,’ recorded on 16mm film in the early 1940’s. He learned solo style fingerpicking from other local musicians, eventually landed on a radio show’s amateur hour at the age of 18, was hired by a fiddler for a band, and he was off to the races. His first guitar was one hand-crafted by his own brother, largely because the family couldn’t afford one otherwise. Like most greats, Merle became infatuated with guitar as a young boy. His influence is still channeled from the strings of modern songwriters to this day. Many world-renowned guitarists tout Merle as a major influence on their own styles, such as Chet Atkins, Steve Howe, and Tommy Emmanuel. It is guaranteed, though, that any studied guitar player uses the unique fingerpicking techniques that Merle Travis invented, even if they don’t realize it. While Merle was known as a folk-artist hero, many modern musicians aren’t familiar with his portfolio of country and western gems (shame on them!). It didn’t hurt that he was a master guitarist either. His lyrics embodied the lives and struggles of his fellow Kentucky coal miners, which propelled him to stardom through his honest representation of their economic plight and hard labor. He gained popularity in a time and place when the people needed a voice for their experiences and emotions that otherwise weren’t being validated. Others come close but they don’t come before this historical icon. Of the many American musicians known for writing country and western songs, none are as synonymous with the genre as the great song-crafting guitarist Merle Travis (1917 – 1983).
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