Dark as a Dungeon

"Dark as a Dungeon" is a song written by singer-songwriter Merle Travis. It is a lament about the danger and drudgery of being a coal miner in an Appalachian shaft mine. It has become a rallying song among miners seeking improved working...

In this article: Johnny Cash, At Folsom Prison, Columbia Records, Joaquin Phoenix, Merle Travis, Dolly Parton, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, and Walk the Line

...an interpreter of traditional American folk music, as a brilliant finger-style guitarist, and as a folk-inspired composer whose songs "Dark as a Dungeon" and "Sixteen Tons", included in all editions of this album, have become classics of folk,...

In this article: Folk Songs of the Hills, Merle Travis, Sixteen Tons, Coal, Back Home, John Henry, and Josh White

...ballad Barbara Allen, Travis' signature gospel song I am a Pilgrim, and original compositions including his legendary crossover hits Dark as a Dungeon and Sixteen Tons. All songs are introduced by a spoken narrative. This was Travis' first LP...

In this article: Merle Travis, Back Home, The Merle Travis Guitar, Muskrat, Folk Songs of the Hills, John Henry, Barbara Allen, and Sixteen Tons

...- 3:35 with Maybelle Carter "You Are My Flower" (A.P. Carter) - 3:35 "The Precious Jewel" (Roy Acuff) - 3:30 with Roy Acuff "Dark as a Dungeon" (Merle Travis) - 2:45 with Merle Travis "Tennessee Stud" (Jimmie Driftwood) - 4:22 with...

In this article: Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Roy Acuff, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, A. P. Carter, Maybelle Carter, Merle Travis, Doc Watson, Jimmy Martin, and Bluegrass

...like, then you'll love this). The album is also full of bad covers: She does no favors to Merle Travis or Johnny Cash in her butchering of "Dark as a Dungeon", shoved into the Nashville meat grinder to re-emerge as a new age folk song...

In this article: Dolly Parton, Donna Summer, 9 To 5, Coat of Many Colors, Johnny Cash, Nashville, Porter Wagoner, Backwoods Barbie, NIN, and 9 To 5 And Odd Jobs

...fourteen tracks had appeared on Billboard 's country singles chart (see below). Two of the songs on the album - "I Got Stripes" and "Dark as a Dungeon" - had been performed by Cash at Folsom Prison and subsequently appeared on his famous...

In this article: At Folsom Prison, Old Golden Throat, Johnny Cash, and Columbia Records

...(which also features Andrew Bird on fiddle), the rustic spiritual arrangement of "Wreck On the Highway," the subdued guitar work on "Dark as a Dungeon, or the steel guitars that dot most of the songs. The album includes several ballads...

In this article: Wreck of the Old 97, Little Drummer Boy, Bing Crosby, and Merle Travis

...a job as a guide at the Country Music Hall of Fame, then located beside the BMI building on 17th Avenue. It was there that she first heard "Dark as a Dungeon." "We had all these historic films that would play [continuously] in two small...

In this article: Kathy Mattea, Coal, Marty Stuart, Merle Travis, Homer Hickam, West Virginia, CMT, Bob Wills, and Patty Loveless

...rich tradition of coal songs, comparable to its catalogs of murder ballads and railroad tunes. Some songs on Coal, such as Merle Travis' Dark as a Dungeon, are more than a half-century old. Others, such as Darrell Scott's 1997 chilling You'll...

In this article: Kathy Mattea, Coal, Marty Stuart, West Virginia, IPod, Hazel Dickens, USA Today, and Steve Earle

...suggests the kind of soul-crushing story that would typically breed resentment; her somber, matter-of-fact delivery of Merle Travis's "Dark as a Dungeon"; and the frustration of watching a loved one die that she brings to her stunning a...

In this article: Kathy Mattea, Coal, Merle Travis, Patty Loveless, Mountain Soul, Slant Magazine, Wagonmaster, and Marty Stuart