because back then in the '40s, the saying about music being 'played live' was no euphemism. Born in 1924 (Luttrell, Tennessee), the early stages of his career took place on radio stations, jumping from state to state, making a name for himself as a session guitarist. We are indeed talking about a self-taught musician. Bob Dylan never stopped warning that the times they were a-changing, but some people had not cottoned on yet. At the same time, criticisms were raining down on him from the 'purist' sectors of the North American popular music world who were suspicious of including elements of pop, rock and jazz in their 'honky tonk playpen'. During those times, his life was more focused on his role as an aggressive executive of a major record label. enjoyed during the '60s, his own career shined with several big hits like " Yakety Axe" in 1965, followed a little later by " Country Gentleman". He kept on recording albums, earning his fair share of hits in his own name but above all by playing on so many hits by a multitude of artists as a session musician. From Elvis Presley to Waylon Jennings, Floyd Cramer, Don Arnold or Connie Smith, nothing came out of Nashville without his approval as the decision maker at RCA. The Chet Atkins who was besotted with his guitar is the truly interesting one, the jazz lover who managed to take country music out of the saloons that still reeked -if you pardon the expression- of barns and bourbon. In any case, as a 'luthier', Atkins is arguably one of the most long-lived and his creations are still in-demand, from the popular '6120 Chet Atkins' to the refined 'Country Gentleman'. He wanted them to remove his name -that little nameplate in the headstock- from his models while he was designing for the competition at Gibson, his new supplier. He was also famous for his break with the manufacturer of his unmistakable guitars, the Gretsch brand specializing in instruments 'with soul'. Apart from anecdotes like the one about the pistol he used to pay his brother for his first guitar, he was a compulsive perfectionist who built his own recording studio as soon as he could, was reluctant to perform live and controversial for his business practices when he ended up 'charging' his associates at RCA. Teacher and student, indeed, who recorded some interesting master 'lessons'.Ītkins never sold his soul to the devil, but his biography includes many of those 'things' that define the complex personality of a genius. ![]() That technique learned while trying to fill his lungs with air would leave his peers breathless in his own era and guitarists in succeeding ones as well, right up to the time Mark Knopfler and his sultans of swing gave it a new splendour. until he learned to use three fingers of his right hand to pluck the strings and not just the thumb and index finger as his teacher did. His illness was a torture that forced him to sleep sitting up and he played guitar to get to sleep, night after night. The career of Chet Atkins is marked by his obsession to play better than his idol, Merle Travis, and by asthma, paradoxically perhaps his greatest aid in achieving that goal. Along with Les Paul, he is one of the key figures for understanding everything that would come later. Years later, that young kid from Tennessee would turn into something much more than a great guitarist: he would be the head of a record label as influential as RCA, redefine country music by creating the 'Nashville Sound' and act as 'godfather' to many other great musicians as producer of their albums. The legend of Chester Burton and his alter ego Chet Atkins is tied to that of the instrument he used when he began to write that legend from the time they first put a ukulele in his hands. Perhaps the best song here though is the endearing "There'll Be Some Changes Made", which incorporates a virtuoso guitar battle.It's enough to strap on a Gretsch to feel like Mister Guitar to play it like old Chet, though, that's a whole different story. The two guitarists also perform the Django Reinhardt ballad, "Tears", employing a delicate and introspective touch. Atkins and Knopfler perform the Boots Randolph tune, "Yakety Sax" that Atkins, decades earlier, turned into a country hit after renaming it "Yakety Axe". Together, the two guitar greats perform a wide variety of music encompassing country, pop, and even European jazz influences. Guitar teams up with Dire Straits' guitarist Mark Knopfler. Chet Atkins' role as record producer in the '60s and '70s made the Nashville sound heard and loved throughout the world. Atkins' style grew out of his admiration for Merle Travis, and expanded Travis' signature syncopated thumb-and-fingers roll into new territory. ![]() Without Chet Atkins, country music may never have crossed over into the pop charts in the '50s and '60s.
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