Summary: Ozark Highlands Radio is a weekly radio program that features live music and interviews recorded at Ozark Folk Center State Park’s beautiful 1,000-seat auditorium in Mountain View, Arkansas. In addition to the music, our “Feature Host” segments take listeners through the Ozark hills with historians, authors, and personalities who explore the people, stories, and history of the Ozark region. This week, guitar legend Merle Travis performs live at the Ozark Folk Center State Park in Mountain View, Arkansas. A performance by Merle’s son, Grammy award winning songwriter, guitarist, and actor Tom Bresh. Also, performances from two thumbpicking guitar champions, Danny Dozier & Randy Buckner. In 1979, the Ozark Folk Center State Park created an event to honor thumbpicking legend Merle Travis. In the early days the weekend featured a thumpicking contest and performances from the late Merle Travis and other popular guitarists. Over the years the event has continued on, and now hosts Merle’s son, Thom Bresh, as the feature performer each year. The event has grown to include traditional thumbpicking and contemporary fingerstyle guitar contests as well as workshops and jam sessions. This week, we feature performances from Thom Bresh, Danny Dozier, Randy Buckner, and an archival recording of Merle Travis himself, performing at the very first Ozark Folk Center Merle Travis Thumbpicking Weekend. Merle Robert Travis was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist born in Rosewood, Kentucky. His song's lyrics often discussed both the lives and the economic exploitation of American coal miners. Among his many well-known songs are "Sixteen Tons," "I am a Pilgrim," and "Dark as a Dungeon." However, it is his unique guitar style, still called “Travis Picking” by guitarists, as well as his interpretations of the rich musical traditions of his native Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, for which he is best known today. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1977. Thom Bresh has led an incredible, multi-faceted life in the entertainment business. To start, his birth father is guitar royalty, Merle Travis. Thom was raised in California during the golden age of television and worked as a stuntman/actor during his youth. He went on to become one of the premier practitioners of his fathers “thumbpicking” style of guitar. Harnessing a quick wit and an equally quick set of ten fingers, there is nothing like a Thom Bresh performance. Danny Dozier is an Arkansas native and proud of it. He is one of the area’s premier guitar players, well versed in the Merle Travis “thumbpicking” style. Danny has worked with a wide variety of performers over the years including; Grandpa and Ramona Jones, Omar and the Howlers and regional favorite, The Leatherwoods. Randy Buckner also plays the Merle Travis style of thumbpicking, as well as teaching guitar, banjo, ukulele, and mandolin in Springfield, Mo. A Springfield native, Randy has been playing guitar since 1973. He studied Jazz at Middle Tennessee State University, and has shared the stage with many great musicians including the legend himself, Merle Travis. In this week’s “From the Vault” segment, musician, educator, and country music legacy Mark Jones offers an archival recording of Ozark originals Dean Hinesley & Andre Cannard performing the classic song “I Don’t Love Nobody,” from the Ozark Folk Center State Park archives.
