A good description of the differences, Mr. Clark--

Back when these things mattered, there were those who Carter-picked, and those who Travis-picked--Carter-picking being regarded as "Old Time", and Travis-picking as modern. Merle did most of his recording work with an electric guitar(all of this is probably in the thread above, or, if not, in one of the related threads)--Travis-picking isn't an easy thing to pick up, and there are relatively few people who can do it anymore, which probably accounts for the fact that there aren't enough players around for the contest--that idea really depresses me--