Merle Travis – The Best of Merle Travis: Sweet Temptation (1946-1953)
Merle Travis is a guitar god. In our age of hype, that term has been as liberally applied as hot sauce on a Texas taco. However, in the pantheon of pickers, Merle Travis is Zeus. Furthermore, if Merle Travis had been only a guitarist, he would a legend for that alone. Travis, though, was a gifted vocalist, talented cartoonist, fascinating storyteller, charismatic and versatile entertainer — truly a rural renaissance man of the arts.
So what’s left to discuss regarding the new release, The Best Of Merle Travis: Sweet Temptation (1946-1953)? For one thing, its remarkable similarity to the 1990 Rhino release The Best Of Merle Travis. Both were compiled by Rich Kienzle, a fine roots-music historian with discerning taste.
However, Kienzle reveals his favorites on both compilations — 12 of the 20 tracks are identical, 13 if the slightly different version of “Cannon Ball Rag” is included. Granted, for the dabbler, this is the prerequisite Merle Travis 101. For the devotee, it’s a little disappointing, though the inclusion of the vocal rendition of his “Guitar Rag” and Travis’ great yodeling “T For Texas” is a consolation.
The liner notes are, as usual with Kienzle, enlightening and entertaining. Much of what I know about Travis, as well as many other country stars, has come courtesy of Kienzle’s notes. On this compilation, once again he documents another dimension of Travis’ enormous musical gift balanced against his legendary complex personality.
As would be expected of any serious compilation, each selection is documented. Curiously, in many instances the information provided conflicts with documentation on the earlier Rhino compilation. For example, though steel guitar great Joaquin Murphy is credited on “Cincinnati Lou”, Rhino lists Pete Martinez. Conversely, Martinez is logged on the roster of Razor & Tie’s “Three Times Seven”, while Noel Boggs is credited on Rhino’s comp. In general, Capitol session logs were complete and accurate. In this case, who is right? I’m inclined to believe Razor & Tie has it right, possibly incorporating feedback to errors in the Rhino documentation.