Sixteen Tons

Vinyl LP pressing. Ernest Jennings Ford began his career singing country music on the radio later adopting the name Tennessee Ernie. "Sixteen Tons" was his biggest hit featured on this album, selling over one million copies and holding the #1 position on the Billboard Country Music charts for ten weeks." Now available as a single LP on standard weight vinyl in celebration of Capitol Records' 75th anniversary. "Sixteen Tons" is a sparsely arranged coal-miner's lament, that Merle Travis first recorded in 1946 reflecting his own family's experience in the mines of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. The song's authorship has been claimed by both Travis and George S. Davis, although Travis is recognized as the sole author on the recording itself, by BMI and in virtually all reference works.