Best of Merle Travis: Sweet Temptation 1946-53

"Travis-pickin" is what is was called and it was a style of guitarplaying that Merle Travis popularized that influenced every Country picker from Chet Atkins to Scotty Moore and even Jerry Reed. This fine CD spotlights this overlooked giant. It's sad that Merle Travis never gets mentioned with the greats of Country Music but this CD is a sturdy reminder that he was indeed a great one. While it is his guitar playing that often gets Merle Travis mentioned in Country history books he was also a consistent chart topper during the period that this CD covers. His songs had a sense of humor ("Fat Girl"), addressed issues of the day ("No Vacancy" about the lack of housing Veterans faced when they returned from World War II, and he also wrote "Sixteen Tons". This CD is basically a replacement for Rhino's Best of from 1990 which is now out-of-print. While that CD had 18 songs this has 20 (with 13 of Rhino's appearing here, also). But...Read more

It seems like every North American distributor has had a crack at putting out the definitive Merle Travis compilation. but no one has got it completely right. Some you find are re-makes of his 13 hits for Capitol between 1946 and 1966, while others, although offering original versions in so-called "best of" compilations, see fit to leave of some pretty significant selections.

This one from the normally reliable Razor & Tie is no different. His first charters are here, the 1946 double-sided hit Cincinnati Lou [# 2 Country and kept from the # 1 slot only by Bob Wills' phenomenal New Spanish Two Step which stayed at # 1 for 16 solid weeks], b/w No Vacancy which itself went as high as # 3.

He then reached # 1 later that year with Divorce Me C.O.D. which almost repeated the Wills feat by remaining there for 14 weeks, also going to # 25 Pop, while its flipside, Missouri, made it to # 5 Country early in 1947. That last is omitted here. In March 1947 he repeated that...Read more