Five Good Covers presents five cross-genre reinterpretations of an oft-covered song.
Merle Travis may have brought “Sixteen Tons” into the world, but it was Tennessee Ernie Ford who made it immortal. The song’s arrangement – clarinets didn’t often get the spotlight, but one sure did here – was spare and distinctive. Ford’s bass baritone and his finger-snapping, both casual and menacing, hooked listeners in both the pop and country worlds, taking the song to number one on both charts. In a 1960 TV appearance together, Travis told Ford, “The song never amounted to much until you sung it.” Ford replied, “I never amounted to much until I sung it, either.”
