ok,and I know who I prefer to listen to,and its not Merle,why?because for all his slickness, he has lost something,its called soul.Now thats only my subjective opinion,and we all have different tastes and likes /dislikes.
for me Etta Baker and John Hurt have got it .Merle aint.
granted Merle wrote some good songs,[dark as the dungeon etc]
playing in the style of Merle Travis,as far as I am concerned is a dead end,I think developing ones own style,should be the goal of any performer,being a clone of anyone ,Martin Carthy,Merle Travis Nic Jones is in my opinion a mistake.Dick Miles