ChetAtkins
Mister Guitar, who made one pair of hands sound like two
Chet Atkins
Mister Guitar, who made one pair of hands sound like two
Chester Burton Atkins grew up poor in rural east Tennessee and later Georgia, learning on a battered guitar whose nut was a nail and whose neck was so bowed that only the lowest frets were usable. Childhood asthma kept him sleeping sitting up, and he often played until he dozed off. After hearing Merle Travis on the radio he set out to decode that thumb-and-finger sound, and in 1942 he left high school to work as a radio musician at WNOX in Knoxville.
The mid-1940s were a string of radio jobs and short stints. He made his Grand Ole Opry debut in 1946 with Red Foley's band and signed with RCA Victor in 1947, though his first records did little. Joining Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters in 1949 brought him back to Nashville for good. By the early 1950s he was an Opry regular, a first-call session guitarist, and a solo act whose version of Mister Sandman gave him his first real hit.
In 1955 Gretsch launched a Chet Atkins guitar line, and in 1957 RCA put him in charge of its Nashville operation. As a producer and executive he helped build the smooth, string-laden Nashville Sound, working with artists from Elvis Presley and the Everly Brothers to Jim Reeves and Dolly Parton, and he helped get RCA's Studio B and Studio A built on Music Row. Meanwhile his own albums kept coming, and Yakety Axe in 1965 became his biggest single.
After a cancer diagnosis in 1973 he stepped back from executive work to focus on playing, cutting celebrated duet records with Jerry Reed, Les Paul, Merle Travis and, later, Mark Knopfler. He left RCA for Columbia in 1982 after roughly 35 years. By the end he had won 14 Grammys and nine CMA Instrumentalist of the Year awards and had played the White House for a run of presidents. He died in 2001 and entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the following year.
The 10 greatest Chet Atkins solos
- 1Chet Atkins · solo by Chet Atkins · 1965
- 2Chet Atkins · solo by Chet Atkins · 1955
- 3Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed · solo by Jerry Reed and Chet Atkins · 1972
- 4Chet Atkins · solo by Chet Atkins · 1962
- 5Chet Atkins · solo by Chet Atkins · 1953
- 6Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler · solo by Chet Atkins · 1990
- 7Chet Atkins and Les Paul · solo by Chet Atkins · 1976
- 8Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler · solo by Chet Atkins · 1990
- 9Chet Atkins · solo by Chet Atkins · 1952
- 10Chet Atkins · solo by Chet Atkins · 1966
The sound
Atkins built on Merle Travis's thumb-and-index picking, keeping a steady alternating bass going with a thumbpick while three fingers carried melody and harmony on top, so a single guitar could sound like a small band. His tone was clean, warm and exact, often with a light echo that he got from early tape-delay amps. He loved harp-like cascades of open strings, artificial harmonics and smooth key changes, and he borrowed freely from jazz, pop, classical and parlour music. Nothing was flashy for its own sake. Every note was placed, and the tunes always stayed easy to sing.
- Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins Hollow Body (guitar) The first Gretsch signature model, launched in 1955 and later adopted by generations of rockabilly players.
- Gretsch Country Gentleman (guitar) A dark, thinline hollowbody signature Gretsch from the late 1950s. George Harrison famously played one in the early Beatles years.
- Gibson Chet Atkins CE (guitar) A solid-body nylon-string electric he designed with Gibson after moving there in the 1980s. It let him play classical-style parts on stage without feedback.
- Gibson Country Gentleman (guitar) A Gibson version of his favourite archtop design, from the later part of his career.
- Ray Butts EchoSonic (amp) A small combo with tape echo built in. He was among its first users, and it helped create his shimmering 1950s sound.
- Thumbpick (effect) Worn for his whole career to keep the bass line strong and separate from the fingers above it.
Covers
- Mister Sandman, originally by The Chordettes He turned a vocal-group pop hit into a guitar showpiece.
- Yakety Axe, originally by Boots Randolph (Yakety Sax) He matched the honking sax original's comedy note for note on guitar.
- Yesterday, originally by The Beatles An understated arrangement that shows his debt to classical guitar.
- I Feel Fine, originally by The Beatles He opens the album by reworking the Beatles' riff into a bouncing country-pop instrumental.
- Michelle, originally by The Beatles The song's chromatic chords suit his harp-like harmonic approach perfectly.
- Avalon, originally by Al Jolson A 1920s standard becomes a friendly duel between two old friends.
Timeline
- 1924 Born June 20 in Luttrell, Tennessee
- 1942 Leaves high school to play on WNOX radio in Knoxville
- 1946 Grand Ole Opry debut with Red Foley's band
- 1947 First recordings for RCA Victor
- 1949 Joins Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters
- 1955 Gretsch launches the Chet Atkins guitar line
- 1957 Put in charge of RCA's Nashville division
- 1965 Yakety Axe becomes his biggest hit
- 1982 Leaves RCA after about 35 years and signs with Columbia
- 2001 Dies June 30. He enters the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the following year
Facts
- He won 14 Grammy Awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1993.
- The Country Music Association named him Instrumentalist of the Year nine times.
- Asthma forced him to sleep sitting up as a child, and he practised until he fell asleep, a habit he kept for life.
- His first guitar was so crude that its nut was a nail.
- In high school he practised in the bathroom because he liked how it sounded.
- His brother Jim played guitar in the Les Paul Trio.
- He created an honorary title, CGP (Certified Guitar Player), and gave it to only a few players, including Jerry Reed and Tommy Emmanuel.
- He was a licensed amateur radio operator, and his vanity call sign was W4CGP.
- A stretch of Interstate 185 in Georgia is named the Chet Atkins Parkway.
- He performed at the White House for every president from John F. Kennedy to George H. W. Bush.