Muhlenberg County Kentucky
Obituaries: R
Moses Rager, 1986
Country music pioneer Rager dies.
Moses “Mose” Rager, who was credited with teaching Merle Travis how to thumbpick a guitar, died Wednesday at Muhlenberg Community Hospital in Greenville. He was 75.
Rager, of Drakesboro, was renowned in country music circles for the special style of guitar playing that made Travis famous and was later named after Travis.
“People all over the world play this style now, but essentially it is a Muhlenberg County style of picking,” said Bill Lightfoot, assoicate professor of folklore and literature at Appalachian State University in Boone, N.C.
“Mose, more than anyone else, is responsible for the ‘Travis style’ of guitar playing,” Lightfoot said Wednesday.
Lightfoot is writing a book on the history and evolution of this particular style of picking a guitar. He said a central part of the book would be devoted to Rager and his contributions to country music.
He said Travis was influenced not just by Rager's style of picking but by his whole personality. “Mose was very well liked, extremely good natured and laughed all the time. He loved people and loved the music. I think Travis copied Mose's personality as well as playing style.”
Travis would tell people about Rager when he was performing all over the country, said Richard Casey, Ohio County tourism director and a former radio and television professional. After hearing about him, people would drop by Rager's home to talk to him about music, Casey said, and Rager always seemed ready to talk.
Lightfoot called Rager a “culture hero” and defined that as a “person who embodies the best qualities and attributes that a culture thinks is valuable.”
Ronnie Pugh, a spokesman with the Country Music Assocation in Nashville, Tenn., said Rager “had a great influence, along with Ike Everly, on Merle Travis, and through Travis, indirectly on Chet Atkins.”
Ike Everly is the father of Phil and Don, music's Everly Brothers.
Casey said Rager had played in the Grand Ole Opry for about 1½ years with a band called Curley Fox and Texas Ruby and he had “also played some with Grandpa Jones” at the Opry. News files indicate that Rager was with the Opry in 1946.
Rager primarily performed at barn dances and social gatherings in Ohio and Muhlenberg counties, and he had toured briefly with Grandpa Jones and Ernest Tubb.
He also performed in 1976 along with Travis at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., for a Bicentennial celebration.
Travis, another Muhlenberg County native, died in October 1983.
Casey said Rager had recorded at least one record with Curley Fox and Texas Ruby, which included renditions of “Black Mountain Rag” and “Fire on the Mountain.”
“Travis style” guitar picking is essentially a two-finger style that allows the player to play melody, bass and rhythm all at the same time with just thumb and finger.
Rager himself learned the style as a youth from a Muhlenberg County man named Kennedy Jones. Rager said during a 1977 interview: “Kennedy Jones ought to get credit for thumpick, that's where the picking started…I didn't know a guitar could be played like Kennedy Jones played it.”
Lightfoot said Rager had told him the encounter with Jones “was the greatest thing that ever happened to me, as far as music is concerned.”
Lightfoot said Rager was not a famous country music personality, but he was a “quiet, humble man, who in his way, influenced all of country music.”
Rager, Lightfoot said, preferred to be home with his wife, Laverda, and their three children.
Casey said, “Mose will really be missed by lots of people associated with country music.”
- Source: Messenger-Inquirer [Owensboro, KY], 15 May 1986.
Updated April 5, 2024.