Sandman" (# 13), soon followed by "Silver Bell" (# 15), a guitar duet with Hank Snow. Early in 1955 he scored his first country hit with a cover of the Chordettes' pop hit "Mr. In 1953, RCA issued Chet's debut album, a 10-inch release called "Gallopin' Guitar", the first of a long series. Meanwhile, Chet's own recording career was gradually picking up steam. Steve Sholes also used Atkins as a session man and soon as a supervisor of Nashville RCA sessions when Sholes couldn't get away from the New York office. Sure enough, Rose employed Chet on several MGM recordings with Hank Williams ("Cold Cold Heart", "Jambalaya", "Kaw-Liga" et al.). Before moving to Nashville in 1950, Chet had received assurances from music publisher Fred Rose that he could make use of him on sessions. The Carters and Atkins were offered a slot on the Grand Ole Opry in 1950, which they kept for several years. Next, Atkins worked as a guitarist for Homer & Jethro, then the top country comedy duo, before teaming up with Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters in 1949. It was soon apparent that Chet's prowess with the guitar far exceeded his vocal capacities. Though all were eventually released, none of them made a splash on the charts. Of the eight songs recorded during his first RCA session on August 11, 1947, five were vocal numbers with Chet singing and three were instrumentals. He made his first record in 1946 for the Bullet label ("Guitar Blues"/ "Brown Eyes Cryin' In the Rain") and was signed to RCA in 1947 by Steve Sholes, as a singer and guitarist. During the 1940s he moved from one radio station to another, before finally settling in Nashville in 1950. He also mastered the fiddle, but the guitar was always his favourite instrument.īy the time he left school in 1941 he was an accomplished guitarist and started performing on radio WNOX in Knoxville, TN. A shy, sickly child, Chet suffered from severe bouts of asthma that left him plenty of time to sit quietly with his guitar. Chet never had guitar lessons as such he would watch and listen to other guitarists and work out licks for himself. Apart from his brother, Chet's main influences as a guitarist were Les Paul, Django Reinhardt and, most of all, the finger-picking style of Merle Travis. Chet watched Jim play the instrument and at five he started playing an old ukelele. His father was an itinerant music teacher, his mother sang and played piano and his half-brother, Jim Atkins (twelve years his senior), was a professional guitarist. (Check out his amazing Bach performance at the bottom of the YouTube list below.)Ītkins grew up in the hills in a tiny, remote eastern Tennesssee town called Luttrell. He also recorded jazz, folk, pop, Latin American and classical music. Yet, country music was always only part of what Atkins did. Many hit records that he produced during his days at RCA are now classics. As a producer he was the key architect of the 'Nashville Sound', a smooth, polished style that made country music acceptable to a wider audience, at a time that the overpowering surge of rock 'n' roll was threatening to sweep it under. As a guitarist he is one of the most recorded instrumentalists in music history and he was an influence on countless pickers, from Duane Eddy to George Harrison. The importance of Chet Atkins can hardly be overstated. Born Chester Burton Atkins, 20 June 1924, Luttrell, Tennessee
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