Merle Travis: Sweet Temptation: The Best Of Merle Travis (1946-953)

Merle Travis' influence stretches much further than his name recognition and record sales suggest. Cited as an inspiration by everyone from Chet Atkins to Scotty Moore to Leo Fender, who based his Telecaster on a solid-body design of Travis' invention, Travis played a brand of country that's difficult to categorize and easy to love. Born in Kentucky, he got his start, like many, on the powerful Cincinnati station WLW before moving to California. There, he perfected a style that mixed newfangled Western Swing with the traditional country of his home state, introducing an approach to picking that was uniquely his own. His early hits ("Cincinnati Lou," the veterans' lament "No Vacancy," the daring "Divorce Me C.O.D.") would prove the exception, sales-wise, but his strong songwriting voice is evident throughout this highly enjoyable 20-track collection. "So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed" turns around a double entendre of post-war advertising, while "Sixteen Tons," a song later made famous by Tennessee Ernie Ford, uses harsh humor to tell listeners everything they need to know about the legalized slavery of the mining industry. Done in in part by a tendency toward self-destruction, Travis would periodically disappear and come back, with frequent help from acolytes and admirers, until his death in 1983. Presenting Travis in his prime, Sweet Temptation makes it clear why he looms large over country and rock 'n' roll.