Tennessee Ernie Ford
Tennessee Ernie Ford

Sixteen Tons was written eight years before I recorded it.

Tennessee Ernie Ford
Tennessee Ernie Ford

When you do a show five days a week and one night a week, the way I was doing, you use up so much music every day that pretty soon you find yourself hustling for material.

Tennessee Ernie Ford
Tennessee Ernie Ford

You can keep rummaging around until you find a song you like, but you can't predict whether it'll hit or not.

Tennessee Ernie Ford
Tennessee Ernie Ford

We decided to do some of Merle's things with modern instrumentation. We used a flute, a bass clarinet, a trumpet, a clarinet, drums, a guitar, vibes and a piano.

Tennessee Ernie Ford
Tennessee Ernie Ford

I snapped my fingers all through it. Sometimes I set my own tempo during rehearsal by doing that.