Mother Maybelle was a member of the Carter Family, the influential country music group that was founded by her brother in law A.P. Carter in 1927. Maybelle played guitar and autoharp. She was mostly self-taught and came up with "Carter Scratch" a description of her style of playing made famous on, among other songs Wildwood Flower. The Carter Scratch came about by her attempt to add melody to the harmonic accompaniment of her guitar. She would play the melody on, usually, the bass strings of the guitar, while simultaneously playing the harmony in a "scratch" move on the upper strings.

Maybelle Carter was a major influence on later country guitar giants, including Merle Travis, and Chet Atkins(who played briefly with the Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle). She is the mother of June Carter Cash, Anita Carter, and Helen Carter.

Merle Travis was a man of many talents. He was an illustrator, actor, singer, songwriter, and, most famously, a very influential guitarist.

Travis grew up in coal mining country in Kentucky and never forgot his roots. This was apparent in his hit "Sixteen Tons", which Ernie Ford went on to make a lot of money for the writer.

Travis style of playing, later termed "Travis picking" was very rhythmic and groove oriented, utilizing a thumbpick in a thumping out of the bass pattern while simultaneously playing a melody on the higher strings. There were other local pickers in the Muhlenberg county area who played in similar styles. Perhaps the most influential on Travis was Kennedy Jones. Travis has a long list of admirers. Of the most famous and obvious are Ike Everly, Scotty Moore, Carl Perkins, and Chet Atkins.

Some of the many songs which feature Travis's great style include Nine Pound Hammer, I'll see you in my dreams, Bye Bye my Bluebelle, and Cannonball Rag.

Click Here for Merle's son, Thom Bresh's explanation of the Travis Picking technique from an article in Guitar Player magazine. For more on Travis, and other fingerstyle techniques, check out Fingerstyle Guitar magazine.

No discussion of country guitar would be complete without mention of Chet and Jerry. Chet Atkins was initially taken by the guitar of Merle Travis, but grew to become his own stylist thought sheer innovation. Chet Atkins expanded the musical vocabulary of fingerstyle guitar with jazz and classical influences, and through his collaborations with pickers beyond the Nashville scene, such as
Lenny Breau and Les Paul, created some of the most sophisticated and beautiful guitar music of the time.

Initially Chet was a quasi-Rockabilly stylist with his simultaneous bass/melody fingerstyle ala Travis. What differed from Travis was his characteristic use of the Bigsby tremolo bar and his strict alternating bass notes, which give Chet's music a much more precise feel than Travis's more groove, rootsy approach. Chet also specialized in faster runs and jazzier chord choices.

Jerry Reed started off by being a fan of Atkins. Reed's guitar of choice was a gut string. The term "chicken picking" must certainly be applied to much of Reed's playing as his fast, percussive approach set the tone for modern Country guitar. Nashville Session giant Brent Mason speaks of his admiration for Reed, having reportedly worn out the grooves of his Jerry Reed records to learn his licks. Buster B. Jones jokes that they won't let you be a guitar player in Nashville unless you can play Reed's The Claw. Here is a transcription of the song, named after Reed's fingerstyle technique, which resembles a claw.

The Bakersfield sound popularized by Buck Owens was a hard-edge raw alternative to the sweet sounds coming from Nashville. Guitarist Don Rich of Owens' Buckaroos played a Fender Tele with as much bite and authority as any of his rock counterparts and their fuzzed out Marshalls and Hiwatts. Like some of his blues-rock counterparts like Jimi Hendrix, Don Rich often tuned down a half step such as on the instrumental hit Buckaroo (transcription). Rich became the musical leader of the band when Owens put it together in 1963. Prior to that Owens and Rich toured as a duo using pickup musicians to fill out the show.

Originally a fiddle player, Rich switched to guitar to free Buck up to concentrate on singing. Don Rich was the perfect complement to Buck Owens with his laid back, non showoff manner in both personality and in style. Buck would still convince Don to play the fiddle, as he did on "Made in Japan" where he overdubbed the three part fiddle. Don always sang the high 3rd harmony with Buck. The band also did a few albums billed just as the Buckaroos, with Don on lead vocals spotlighting his fine baritone and tasty tele spank. Don never wanted to pursue a solo career, though, enjoying his supporting role saying he had the best of both worlds, not having the pressure of a leader, but being able to jump in and out of the spotlight.

Don Rich died in 1974 after a motorcycle accident. This spurred his friend Buck into a deep depression and caused him to go into a professional slump until 1987. It was then that a young singer named Dwight Yoakum got Buck to agree to do his earlier hit Streets of Bakersfield with him. The song both revived Bucks performing career and led to a lifelong friendship with Dwight. On display at the Buck's Crystal Palace saloon in Bakersfield is the motorcycle Dwight gave Buck who convinced him not to ride, fearing another loss like that which took Don Rich.

In 1940, bandleader Bob Wills asked his young guitarist, Eldon Shamblin, to come up with some bass runs during his guitar break in Take Me Back To Tulsa. The self-taught Oklahoma guitarist came up with a 2 beat travelling bass rhythm that would become his trademark and would define western swing forever.

Shamblin can be found with other western swing players in this wonderful Vestapol DVD Legends of Western Swing Guitar
along with Billy Dozier, Bob Kiser, Jim Boyd, Cameron Hill, and others.

Shamblin utilized his knowledge of big band charts as musical arranger of Wills band. His guitar features prominently in much of Bob Wills work up until he was drafted in 1942. He rejoined in 1947 and remained until 1954 when he left professional music. In 1970 Merle Haggard recruited him to play on his Tribute To Bob Wills. Eldon Shamblin joined Haggards band The Strangers, played in a re-formed Playboys and played sessions up until his death at age 82 in 1998.

Arthel "Doc" Watson is as authentic an American folk icon as it gets. He can trace his lineage back to the 3000 acre homestead in 1790. The Watsons of the Western corner of North Carolina benefitted from centuries of Scot traditional music and craft. Doc Watson remembers his mother singing him gospel and old time songs. He remains where he was raised, Deep Gap, NC. This aptly named place is fertile ground for Appalachian song and art. Doc lost his sight before his first birthday. Being blind was no reason for his father to let him out of work. His father put his blind son to work on the end of a crosscut saw, an experience that shaped his life. He credits his father with giving him the confidence to work and be useful.

Doc Watson's first professional gig, besides playing informally for tips, was in 1953 playing electric lead guitar for Jack Williams and the Country Gentlemen. It was in this band that he played fiddle tunes on the electric guitar. Doc still kept at old time music with his family in North Carolina. In 1960, musicologist Ralph Rinzler "discovered" Watson, wanting to introduce him to the growing market during the Folk Music craze of the time. It was then that he started recording and doing shows that featured the acoustic sound for which he is now better known.

Watson's son Merle took up the guitar and began accompanying his father on the road, taking up driving and other duties his father could not handle because of the blindness. Merle developed a sound and style of his own, influenced by the blues of Mississippi John Hurt. Merle died in 1985 in a tragic tractor accident. Doc says that his son was "the best friend I had in this world" and was the more talented picker.