1955 Top Ten Songs: Wildwood Flower (#6)

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It’s instrumental time! While this song goes back much further than 70 years, this is pretty much where this song got the reputation as the “national anthem of country music guitar instrumentals.” Back to 1955 for a couple of legends and a legendary song. #6: Wildwood Flower - Hank Thompson and the Brazos Valley Boys and Merle Travis (Linda? Probably not.) The origins of this song date to before the Civil War, a folk tune called “I’ll Twine ‘Mid the Ringlets.” Like countless folk songs before it, versions of the song moved around the country (and the world), with variations in lyrics. By the time A.P. Carter took credit for writing it in 1928 it had lyrically evolved into what most country music fans (okay, old country music fans ) know. Then along came this instrumental version. Hank Thompson (one of five Hanks in the Hall of Fame [with Williams, Williams Jr., Snow, and Cochran]) had a smokin’ backing band, the Brazos Valley Boys, and what better way to show them off than with an instrumental. And what better way to spice up the instrumental more than to bring in the greatest guitarist in country music, Merle Travis. WHY do I say Merle Travis is “the greatest guitarist in country music”? Two reasons. First, the way he played guitar is colloquially known as “Travis style,” so his name is on it. Secondly, most of that brilliance was done while he was fall-down drunk. He also had a pill addiction as well (which he shared [the pills] with his buddy Johnny Cash). As Thompson and Travis were both on Capitol Records at the time, it was no problem to bring Travis in for the session and let him go to town with the rest of the band. And go to town they did. You may notice that the strings play more like “violins” than “fiddles” in this, indicating a slight nudge away from typical “hardcore” country. Then again, that guitar part after the piano (played by Travis) sounds like something the early rock and rollers would envy. Put it all together, and it rocks for a country song. Wildwood Flower Traditional, credited to A.P. Carter Recorded by Hank Thompson and the Brazos Valley Boys and Merle Travis Released as a single, 1955 Pick it, boys!!!!