Merle Robert Travis (November 29, 1917 – October 20, 1983) was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and musician born in Rosewood, Kentucky. He was virtually without peer as a guitarist and songwriter. A unique stylist, he was respected and prominent enough to have an instrumental style ("Travis picking") named after him, and only Chet Atkins even comes close to the influence that Travis had on the way the guitar is understood and played in country music. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1977.
Cannonball Rag