Merle Travis was an American country and western singer-songwriter and musician. He inaugurated the cross-picking guitar style known as Travis picking during the 1930s and 1940s. Travis released the albums Capitol Country Music Classics, Folk Songs of the Hills, and Strictly Guitar. His most popular songs include Sixteen Tons, So Round, So Firm, So Fully Packed, and Divorce Me C.O.D. He made his final recordings for the CMH label in the late 1970s and appeared in the film Five Minutes to Live with Johnny Cash. Travis passed away in 1983.