Merle Travis Music Center brings 'Travis picking' style to concert goers

Named for Merle Travis, an American country and western singer hailing from Muhlenberg County, the Merle Travis Music Center, located at 750 Cleaton Road in Powderly, is a 321-seat auditorium featuring “comfortable seating, excellent sound and an environment that makes you feel at home during any live performance.”

The venue opened to the public in December of 2007 and has been hosting entertainment events and concerts, conferences and meetings since.

“We even have a couple of churches that utilize the space for their services,” said Joe Hudson, the center’s executive director.

Hudson and his wife, Stacey, the facility’s operational manager, take care of the day-to-day operations of the venue.

“The center acts as a voting or polling place as well,” he said.

Hudson said that when the venue initially opened, the performance focus was centered around the specific Merle Travis style of country music known as “Travis picking.” “Travis picking” is described as a syncopated, a variety of rhythms played together, style of guitar playing rooted in ragtime music where alternating chords and bass notes are plucked by the thumb while melodies are plucked by the index finger in unison.

Travis’ style inspired artists like Chet Atkins, Scotty Moore, Earl Hooker, Lonnie Mack, Doc Watson and Marcel Dadi, and Travis has been recognized as one of the most influential guitar players of the 20th century.

Travis’ son, Thom Bresh, said of his father’s style, “I thought it was just the coolest sound, because it sounded like a whole bunch of instruments coming from one guitar. In it, I heard rhythm parts, I hear melodies, I heard chords and all this wrapped up in one.”

“Though we originally had Merle Travis’ style in mind, the venue has started hosting more country music shows and a variety of other entertainment,” Hudson said.

Hudson mentioned one of the venue’s newest installations was a Valentine’s special stage production of a “Love and Marriage” show, similar to the premise of the Newlywed Game.

“Stacey came up with that idea and it’s been super successful around Valentine’s Day,” Hudson said.

Hudson said that right now organizers are planning shows for the September to April season.

“We tend to save the summer months for rentals since there are so many free summer concerts, so we don’t really want to compete with those,” he said.

In addition to seating over 300 concert-goers, the venue also has a showcase of music memorabilia from artists like Travis, Jerry Reed and Chet Atkins.

“The memorabilia part is a bit of a preview of the type of things found in the Muhlenberg County Music Museum down the road in Central City,” Hudson said.

Hudson said that the center tries to offer unique shows and offerings to the Muhlenberg County community.

“We’ve found that the comfortable, intimate setting which emphasizes the incredible sounds from the music keep the people coming back to see more shoes at the venue,” Hudson said.

Hudson also said that the venue will be hosting the annual International Home of the Legends Thumbpicking Weekend, the center’s largest event of the season, again this year Sept. 27-29.

“This is an event which tends to bring a lot of tourism to the community,” Hudson said.

For more information about upcoming events, Hudson suggests keeping an eye out on the center’s website and Facebook page, Merle Travis Music Center.