Thanks for pointing that out Rog. Actually there IS a controversy regarding 16 tons. I have an old Folkways album by George Davis "the Singing Miner of Hazard Kentuckey". He claims to have ABSOLUTELY written "16 Tons" (which he sung as 42 Tons,..and in a major key). He presents a decent case what with being older than Travis, and having sung trad and made up miners' songs for years. He's a pretty shaky singer and player and it's certainly believable to me that Merle may have shaped the raw material, and not bothered with giving credit. Several of Merle's hot instrumentals are VERY close to those of old time miners and pickers Mose Rager and Ike Everly.
Merle was a GIANT and naturally became very famous, and I think we've seen that to REALLY surface, performers need more than talent. They have to have an ambition and drive that can sometimes leave their teachers uncredited and hence unremembered. Certainly Dylan, the Stones (at times) and even the Weavers (remember Paul Cambell) could be guilty of that. Merle was and will remain one of my all time favourite musicians.
Rick