Merle Robert Travis (1917-1983), from the coal country of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, was a guitarist, singer, and songwriter whose thumb-and-fingers picking became so identified with him that the technique is still called 'Travis picking.' He learned the syncopated style from local Kentucky players and carried it into a wide career that ran from country hits to Hollywood, writing enduring songs like 'Sixteen Tons' and 'Dark as a Dungeon.' His guitar approach became a fountainhead for later fingerstylists, most famously Chet Atkins.

the sound in question

1952

Cannonball RagMerle Travis