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Folk Songs of the Hills is Merle Travis
Merle Travis

Merle Robert Travis was an United States country and western singer, songwriter, and musician born in Rosewood, Kentucky. His lyrics often discussed the exploitation of coal miners....
's classic collection of traditional songs from his native Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, including original compositions evoking working life on the railroads and in the coal mines. Each song, accompanied by Travis on his own acoustic guitar, is introduced by a short narrative. First issued as a 78 rpm box set album in 1947, this collection has remained in print in LP and CD reissues up to the present, with additional tracks from the same period added in later editions (the original album had 8 songs, the most recent edition has 13).






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Folk Songs of the Hills is Merle Travis
Merle Travis

Merle Robert Travis was an United States country and western singer, songwriter, and musician born in Rosewood, Kentucky. His lyrics often discussed the exploitation of coal miners....
's classic collection of traditional songs from his native Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, including original compositions evoking working life on the railroads and in the coal mines. Each song, accompanied by Travis on his own acoustic guitar, is introduced by a short narrative. First issued as a 78 rpm box set album in 1947, this collection has remained in print in LP and CD reissues up to the present, with additional tracks from the same period added in later editions (the original album had 8 songs, the most recent edition has 13). This album is widely regarded as one of Travis' finest achievements. A seminal work in his career, it brought him fame as an interpreter of traditional American folk music
American folk music

American folk music, also known as roots music, is a broad category of music including bluegrass music, country music, gospel music, old time music, jug bands, Appalachian folk music, blues, Cajun music and Native American music....
, as a brilliant finger-style guitarist, and as a folk-inspired composer whose songs "Dark as a Dungeon
Dark as a Dungeon

"Dark as a Dungeon" is a song written by singer-songwriter Merle Travis. It is a lament about the danger and drudgery of being a coal miner in an Appalachian shaft mine....
" and "Sixteen Tons
Sixteen Tons

"Sixteen Tons" is a song about the misery of coal mining, first recorded in 1946 by United States country music singer Merle Travis and released on his box set album Folk Songs of the Hills the following year....
", included in all editions of this album, have become classics of folk, country and popular music.

History

In 1944, Merle Travis moved to Hollywood, California, where he made a living by performing minor roles in a Western films and playing with Ray Whitley's Western Swing Band. At the time, Capitol A & R man and producer Lee Gillette was looking for a way to enter the rising market for traditional American folk music created by singers and musicians such as John Jacob Niles
John Jacob Niles

File:Johnjacobniles3.jpgJohn Jacob Niles was an United States composer, singer, and collector of traditional ballads. Called the "Dean of American Balladeers", Niles was an important influence on the American folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s, with Joan Baez, Burl Ives, and Peter, Paul and Mary, among others, recording his songs....
, Burl Ives
Burl Ives

Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an United States actor, writer and folk music singer. The prominent music critic John Rockwell has been quoted in the New York Times as saying that "Ives's voice......
, Josh White
Josh White

Joshua Daniel White , best known as Josh White, was a legendary United States of America singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor, and civil rights activist....
, Woody Guthrie
Woody Guthrie

Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie is best known as an United States singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, Traditional music and children's songs, ballads and improvised works....
, Leadbelly
Leadbelly

Huddie William Ledbetter was an United States folk blues musician, notable for his clear and forceful singing, his virtuosity on the twelve string guitar, and the rich songbook of folk standards he introduced....
, and The Golden Gate Quartet
The Golden Gate Quartet

The Golden Gate Quartet is the most successful of all of the African-American gospel music groups who sang in the Jubilee quartets style. Founded as the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet in Norfolk, Virginia in 1934 by Robert Ford, A.C....
. Travis was known for his broad repertoire of country standards and outstanding guitar playing. Gillette signed him to a recording contract in 1946 and asked him to record a series of folk and folk-inspired songs accompanying himself on an acoustic guitar (although he usually played a hollow-body electric). The recordings that resulted, taking place at two dates in August 1946, led to the eight titles that appeared in the original 78 rpm version of Folk Songs of the Hills, one of the earliest examples of a concept album
Concept album

In popular music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical". Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being musical improvisation or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing to narrative....
. Though a commercial flop at the time, the album was widely admired by musicians, and Travis was invited to preserve some of his performances in a series of Snader Transcriptions, an early form of music video, which can be viewed today on several internet sites and DVDs. In 1955, one song from the album, "Sixteen Tons
Sixteen Tons

"Sixteen Tons" is a song about the misery of coal mining, first recorded in 1946 by United States country music singer Merle Travis and released on his box set album Folk Songs of the Hills the following year....
", was recorded by Tennessee Ernie Ford
Tennessee Ernie Ford

Tennessee Ernie Ford an American recording artist and television host who enjoyed success in the Country music, Pop music and Gospel music musical genres....
 and became a million-selling crosover hit. A number of other songs from the album, such as "Dark as a Dungeon
Dark as a Dungeon

"Dark as a Dungeon" is a song written by singer-songwriter Merle Travis. It is a lament about the danger and drudgery of being a coal miner in an Appalachian shaft mine....
", "John Henry
John Henry

John Henry may refer to:...
" and "Nine-pound Hammer," entered Travis's regular repertoire and went on to become folk, country and bluegrass standards.

As the American folk music revival
American folk music revival

The American folk music revival was a phenomenon in the United States in the 1950s to mid-1960s. Its roots went earlier, of course, since traditional folk music has thousands of years of history, and performers like Burl Ives, Woody Guthrie, and Cisco Houston had enjoyed a limited general popularity in decades prior to the 1950s....
 gathered steam in the 1950s, the album was reissued on LP with a new cover under the title Back Home
Back Home (Merle Travis album)

Back Home is the original LP reissue of Merle Travis's first album, Folk Songs of the Hills , with four previously unreleased tracks and a new cover....
 (Capitol Records T-891, 1957), adding four more tracks from electrical transcriptions made earlier by Travis in the same style for radio broadcast. Its first appearance on CD was as a remastered reissue by Bear Family Records
Bear Family Records

Bear Family Records is a Germany-based independent record label that specializes in reissues of archival material ranging from country music to 1950s rock and roll....
 1993, including all 12 songs in Back Home, where it was coupled with the thematically related 1963 Capitol LP Songs of the Coal Mines. The latest reissue to date is Capitol's own remastered CD of 1996 (Capitol Vintage 35810), reprising all songs of the previous reissues as well as a further track dating from the 1940s, "This World is Not My Home".

Track listing (1996 Capitol edition)

  1. "Nine Pound Hammer" (Travis)
  2. "John Henry" (Traditional)
  3. "Sixteen Tons" (Travis)
  4. "Dark as a Dungeon" (Travis)
  5. "That's All" (Travis)
  6. "Over by Number Nine" (Travis)
  7. "I Am a Pilgrim" (Traditional)
  8. "Muskrat" (Traditional)
  9. "This World is Not My Home" (Traditional)
  10. "John Bolin" (Traditional)
  11. "Possum up a Simmon Tree" (Traditional)
  12. "Barbara Allen" (Traditional)
  13. "Lost John" (Traditional)


Only tracks 1-8 appeared on the original 1947 release Folk Songs of the Hills. Tracks 10-13 were added to the 1957 LP reissue Back Home
Back Home (Merle Travis album)

Back Home is the original LP reissue of Merle Travis's first album, Folk Songs of the Hills , with four previously unreleased tracks and a new cover....
 and the subsequent Bear Family reissue Folk Songs of the Hills (Back Home/Songs of the Coalmines). Track 9 first appears on the 1996 Capitol reissue.

Personnel

  • Merle Travis - vocals and acoustic guitar