From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Wed Jun 19, 2002  7:30 pm
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Chet Atkins
 
CHET ATKINS (By Shaun Mather)

Born Chester Burton Atkins, 20 June 1924, Luttrell, Tennessee
Died 30 June 2001, Nashville, Tennessee

Guitarist, producer and all-round music man Chet Atkins was one of the
most influential bodies in the development of country music and was perhaps
more responsible for its acceptance into pop music than any other Nashville
figure. He was there at the development of the Nashville sound and artists
from Don Gibson to the Everly Brothers benefited greatly from his helping
hand.
By the time he left school in 1941 he was an accomplished guitarist and
started performing on radio WNOX in Knoxville, TN where he worked with Homer
and Jethro among others. Three years later he moved to a radio station in
Cincinnati and made his first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry in 1946
supporting Red Foley. That same year, he made his first records for Bullet.
Next he moved to Springfield, MO, working for the KWTO station until he came
to the attention of RCA Victor's head of country music, Steve Sholes.
Sholes made Chet the studio guitarist for all of RCA studio's Nashville
sessions in 1949. The following year, he worked for Mother Maybelle and the
Carter Sisters where he cemented his place in the Nashville scene. It was
around this time that he played on many hit records and helped change the
way Nashville sounded and was perceived by the music industry. He became a
consultant at RCA's Nashville division in 1953 and began to release a number
of instrumental albums, showcasing his distinct picking. Two years later,
he scored his first hit with a version of Mr. Sandman, followed by Silver
Bell, a duet with another RCA colleague Hank Snow. He also began to design
guitars for Gibson and Gretsch. When Sholes left Nashville in 1957 Chet
became the manager of RCA's Nashville division. He had his first Top 5 hit
in 1965 with a reworking of Boots Randolph's Yakety Sax, retitled Yakety
Axe, which even crossed over to the pop charts.
It's his non-solo work for which he really made his name though, playing
guitar on sessions or producing a string of wonderful acts. He produced
hits for the majority of RCA's Nashville acts, for the likes of Elvis, Don
Gibson, Waylon Jennings, Eddy Arnold, Charley Pride and Bobby Bare.
He was promoted to vice-president of RCA's national country division when
Sholes passed away in 1968.
Through the later decades he recorded some fine duet albums with Jerry Reed
and Mark Knopfler. He was diagnosed with cancer, and in 1997 doctors removed
a tumor from his brain. He finally lost his battle with the disease on June 30,

2001 at his home in Nashville. He had already achieved legendary status by
this time and had won 11 Grammy awards and nine CMA "Instrumentalist of
the Year" honors, as well as "Lifetime Achievement Award" from NARAS.

Recommended listening:
RCA Country Legends - Buddha.
Me & Chet/Me & Jerry - One Way (with Jerry Reed).
Official website: http://www.misterguitar.com/