Merle Travis "Sixteen Tons"

Although Tennessee Ernie Ford made it a huge hit, Merle Travis was the composer of the coal miner exploitation classic tune "Sixteen Tons."  Travis was also famous for his syncopated guitar picking which went on to be known as "Travis Picking."  Travis picked up this guitar style from blues musicians and other local musicians from his native Western Kentucky. Read more and watch the video after the jump.

I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine
Picked up my shovel and I went to the mine
Loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal
And the strawboss said, "Well, Bless my soul!"

     

Bonus Video:
Ten years after Tennessee Ernie Ford had a hit with "Sixteen Tons" he made an attempt to keep up with the times and this is his "modern" version of the song...



Thanks to RockinGator and dentelTV2 for their posts to YouTube.