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Podcast Mentions

Sixteen Tons

Merle Travis

Sixteen Tons This definitive portrait of Travis’s life and career is the result of a recently-discovered treasure trove of Merle’s unpublished autobiographical writings, which have been fleshed out with an immersive deep-dive biography by researcher and musical historian Deke Dickerson.

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History That Doesn't Suck

Podcast

History That Doesn't Suck

The song was referenced as a metaphor for the miners' hardship of working in coal mines and being paid in company script, which they could only spend at the company store.

"

He loads 16 tons, What do you get? Another day older And deeper in debt

— Episode: 153: West Virginia’s Mine Wars: From Tro...

Episode: 153: West Virginia’s Mine Wars: From Trouble in Ma...

The song was referenced as a metaphor for the miners' hardship of working in coal mines and being paid in company script, which they could only spend at the company store.

"

He loads 16 tons, What do you get? Another day older And deeper in debt

St. Peter, don't you call me, Cause I can't go, I owe my soul to the company store

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