Chet Atkins was born June 20, 1924 in Luttrell, Tennessee at the foothills of the Clinch mountains which mark the beginning of what is known as Appalachia. He first began playing on a ukulele at the age of five, using strings made from a screen door. His older brother, Jim, learned to play guitar first and it was he who gave Chet his first lessons. Chet came from a musical family and his grandfather, Wes Atkins, had made fiddles and played the simple Appalachian mountain tunes, which had evolved from Scottish and Irish ballads. Chet’s father, James Arley Atkins, carried on the family tradition as a music teacher, piano tuner and voice instructor who had among his students a young Roy Acuff.

It was Acuff who gave Chet a ride to his first job playing in 1942 at WNOX radio station in Knoxville. Chet had come to audition for Bill Carlisle and comic Archie Campbell of Hee-Haw fame as the fiddler in their band. His uncle Joe had given Chet his first fiddle and it had no bow, so, Chet had made one using hair from the tail of his horse, Bob. As the story goes, Chet played “Sally Goodin’ “ for Bill and Archie and was hired on the spot and was on the air playing 40 minutes later.

Chet continued on as a fiddler for awhile at WNOX until one day he asked Bill Carlisle why he only got paid 3 dollars a day. Bill told Chet that it was because he wasn’t a very good fiddler and it was he who first suggested that Chet switch over to playing guitar. The young Atkins went on to be featured as a guitarist on WNOX’s noontime live Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round program and soon began making a name for himself as a talented guitarist. The rest of Chet’s story has now become history. He has gone on to become the most influential guitarist of this century and Fingerstyle Guitar magazine recently named Chet “Guitarist of the Millennium.”

Chet has received many awards during his long career, including 14 Grammy awards, more than any other solo performer in history. From 1967 to 1988 he won CMA’s Instrumentalist of the Year award nine times and became the youngest member of the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1973. He was named “Guitarist of the Year “ by Guitar Player magazine 5 times and is now retired into the Gallery of the Greats. Cashbox magazine has chosen him as their “Outstanding Musician” 18 times and in 1993 Chet earned a well-deserved lifetime achievement award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS). More recently in 1996 Chet received a lifetime achievement award from the Guitar Foundation of America and in 1997 the coveted Billboard Century Award given for the “highest honor for distinguished creative achievement.”

On August 11, 1947, using a Gibson L-10 guitar given him by his brother Jim and which had been a gift from Les Paul, Chet recorded his first two sides at RCA’s Chicago studio. These first recordings began a 35-year relationship with that company during which he revolutionized the world of modern guitar playing. Although heavily influenced by his own guitar heroes, Merle Travis, Les Paul and Django Reinhardt, Chet single handedly refined the art of fingerstyle guitar and went on to influence thousands of other guitarists.

As a performer Chet has recorded more than 150 albums in many different musical genres, ranging from country to classical to jazz. Most listeners would agree that he has played absolutely the coolest licks on guitar over and over again, demonstrating his incredible gift for imagination and creativity. Chet captured a Djangoesque feel early on with his two classic compositions, “Galloping on the Guitar “ and “Mainstreet Breakdown” from the late 1940s both of which Chet had written based on licks taken from Django’s solos.

Through the years the Atkins guitar style has blossomed to include intricate fingerpicking in which the bass notes are played with the thumb while the melody and chords are played with the other fingers. Also, his delicate use of double stops, lightening fast solo runs, incorporating hammer-ons and pull-offs and his subtle use of “chime” harmonics have given his playing a truly distinctive character unmatched by any other player. Chet also perfected the use of the vibrato tailpiece on the guitar, which he first began using in the early 1940s while playing with the Dixieland Swingsters on the advice of drummer Herbie Cooper.

Chet was introduced to the Grand Ole Opry in April 1946 as the guitarist with Red Foley’s band and it was there he later joined Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters in 1949. After becoming a permanent resident of Nashville in 1950 Chet became a sought after session guitarist and played on hits like “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “Jambalaya” by Hank Williams and “Heartbreak Hotel” by Elvis Presley.

By 1956 Chet had become so influential in the Nashville music scene that RCA hired him as an independent producer and then promoted him to manager of operations in 1957, a position that later evolved into an RCA Vice-presidency. Chet went on to distinguish himself as a record producer and talent scout with RCA from 1957 until his retirement from the company in 1981. He is credited along with Owen Bradley and Don Law as one of the creators of the “Nashville Sound” which incorporated a pop flavor into traditional country music and helped keep Nashville and country music viable when pop and rock were dominating the American marketplace.

Atkins produced and helped develop such legendary artists as the Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Dolly Parton, Jerry Reed, Dottie West, Bobby Bare, Eddie Arnold, Don Gibson, Charlie Pride, Perry Como, Al Hirt and Jim Reeves. He has also had a profound effect on countless guitarists over the years, ranging from George Harrison of the Beatles to Scotty Moore and James Burton with Elvis Presley as well as many other early rock and roll and rockabilly artists such as Eddie Cochran, Carl Perkins and Duane Eddie.

It has been said that if it had not been for the influence of Chet Atkins rock and roll may well not have been a guitar-based form of music since essentially every guitarist in the early rock bands had been inspired to start playing guitar as a result of their exposure to Chet Atkins records from the early 1950s. Without Chet’s presence rock could have been an offshoot of the big band era with saxophones, clarinets and trumpets instead of guitars.

It was Chet who paved the way through his flawless taste, technique and execution that made the guitar an integral part of American culture. I named this CD “The Guitar That Made America Great” because I truly believe that the guitar of Chet Atkins has added so much to the greatness of this country. Chet is a national treasure and we owe him a debt of gratitude for the gift he has given to us all. In Nashville there is a bronze statue of Chet at the corner of 5th and Union Street. The sculptor, Russell Faxon, said at the dedication that it was “life size,” but, if were truly a life size statue of Chet there’s no street corner in Nashville that would be big enough for it. Chet Atkins is bigger than life and his music and his legacy will endure for all time.

On this CD I have picked songs that I know are loved by Chet. Some are tunes he has played through the years while others are from more recent recordings. The first song, “The Odd Folks Of Okracoke” is a composition by Chet’s longtime friend, John D. Loudermilk, and it is a song in which Chet utilizes his technique of artificial harmonics and it is played in open E tuning. I had the pleasure of meeting John through Chet at our Saturday morning get togethers at the Cracker Barrel which went on for several years until Chet’s health started to decline. John also wrote Chet’s hit “Windy and Warm” as well as many other standards in country music over the past 40 years.

“Cheek to Cheek” is a song written by Irving Berlin who Chet considers to be one of the all time great songwriters from this country. Chet first recorded this song on the album, “Solo Flights” in 1968 and then again more recently on “Almost Alone” from 1996. Chet once met Irving Berlin in New York and tells a story about how honored he was to meet him at an early stage of his career.

“Petite Waltz” is one of my all time favorites by Chet. He says he doesn’t remember where he got the tune from, but it was an early attempt by Chet in combining country and classical music although the song is neither country nor classical. Chet originally recorded it in 1956 on his RCA album entitled “Fingerstyle Guitar” which was a follow up to his 1955 classic recording, “In Three Dimensions” in which Chet plays a combination of country, classical and folk songs.

Chet went back to his early roots on this album, recording the Appalachian folk song, “Arkansas Traveler”, included here. I asked Chet how he came up with this arrangement and he said it just seemed logical to play it first in a major key and then do it again in a minor key. This is one of the earliest songs Chet says he can remember hearing and he said his grandfather use to play it on fiddle.

The Don McLean song, “Vincent” is next and it holds a special place in Chet’s heart as one of his most requested songs. It also incorporates Chet’s use of harmonics and is played in open G tuning. Chet’s wife, Leona, says this is her favorite song by Chet. Chet’s arrangement of this song has evolved over the years and what I am playing comes from 1994’s “Read My Licks.”

“Waitin’ for Suzy B” is a song Chet says he wrote while in the studio waiting for the arrival of Suzy Boggess with whom he was recording the album, “Simpatico.” Chet says that many people have told him it is the most beautiful song he has ever written and he said he would have to agree with them. It uses a very unusual tuning in which the 5th string is dropped from A to G and the 6th string is lowered from E to C. Chet got this tuning from Christopher Parkening’s arrangement of the J. S. Bach song, “Sheep May Safely Graze.”

Throughout his life Chet has been a fighter and he has successfully battled three different cancers in his lifetime. The song, “Happy Again,” was written by Chet after hearing some good news from his doctor about some health concerns thus ending a long bout of what Chet calls “melancholy”. It is a very typical Chet Atkins arrangement with the thumb playing the alternating bass line while the melody is played by the other fingers. It sounds simple, but believe me, the run he plays at the end of the second bridge is very difficult to execute.

In addition to Chet’s exploring different tunings on the guitar he has also played songs in keys not generally thought of as “guitar friendly.” One example of this is the song, “To ‘B’ Or Not To ‘B’ ” from Chet’s last CD, “The Day Fingerpickers Took Over the World” with Australian guitarist, Tommy Emmanual. It is written in the key of B and I can’t recall ever hearing another song written for guitar in this key. The chord changes fall so naturally that it seems amazing to me that no one to my knowledge has ever explored this before Chet.

Another example of Chet’s combining a country and classical feel is his treatment of “Swedish Rhapsody” also from the album “Fingerstyle Guitar.” I asked Chet how long it took him to work out the different licks he plays on this song and he told me that he just made everything up on the spot as they were recording the song. “Back in those days”, Chet said, “we use to do a whole album in one day and I never planned out what I was going to play except for the basic chord changes.”

Chet has told me that his favorite song of all time is “Ave Maria” which he recorded on his Grammy award winning CD, “Almost Alone.” I tried my best to play this with the same feeling Chet got on his recording. “This one needs a lot of ‘rubato’,” Chet said. Again, it is played in open G tuning.

Whenever Chet played at the annual Chet Atkins Appreciation Society convention the one song that the fans always wanted to hear was “Mr. Sandman” which was Chet’s 1955 top ten cover of the Chordette’s pop vocal hit. This song has a very interesting arrangement in which Chet modulates effortlessly from A to G to C before ending in a series of chromatic augmented chords.

“Waltz for the Lonely” is another Atkins’ composition which he showed me one night upstairs at the Café Milano in Nashville where he did a show featuring Vince Gill as the guest artist. Vince and I sat spellbound as the master played this beautiful song unaccompanied on his nylon string guitar. I asked Chet what had inspired him to write it and he said, “I guess I was just feeling lonely.”

Of all the songs Chet has recorded he has done more songs written by Jerry Reed than by any other composer. “Drive In” is an early Reed composition done by Chet in 1968 on the “Solo Flights” LP. It’s not really that hard to play, but, it has the “feel” that Jerry Reed puts into all of his songs and is a great vehicle for Chet’s style of playing. I included Jerry Jeff Walker’s song, “Mr. Bojangles,” because I knew it was one of Chet’s favorites. He told me that the intro to this song has been on many hit records and would be on many more.

The final song on this CD, “I Still Can’t Say Goodbye” is a very special song to Chet . He has played this song in every concert over the past several years since he first learned it and he’s always worn a white hat and dedicated it to his father who he loved dearly. Chet really knew how to reach an audience and would introduce this song as a “tear jerker of industrial strength.” Although never known as a vocalist whenever I heard him do this song in concert there was not a dry eye in the house.

Chet Atkins came from the most humble beginnings, growing up in one of the poorest counties in the country during the height of the depression. A couple of years ago Chet took me with him back to Luttrell to meet his friends and family and to see just where he had come from. We had a great time that day at his stepfather’s house reminiscing about the old days and were treated to home made apple butter by Chet’s oldest friend, Buster Devault. From the foothills of Appalachia Chet has gone on to become a true legend in his own time with accomplishments worthy of several lifetimes.

Chet also asked me to go with him to Knoxville where he had started and had me sit in and play with him at his last public performance on June 12, 1998 just a week before his 74th birthday. I will never forget that night and I’ll never forget the greatness of this humble man and all he has so unselfishly given to the world. Chet leaves behind a great legacy which will not soon be forgotten. He will continue to influence guitar players for many years to come, and I know as new music follows the old I will always play, “I Still Can’t Say Goodbye” and the other songs on this album for my dear friend, Chet. It is the greatest honor of my life to have known him and to have been his friend and physician.

Jim Coleman, M.D.

“Doctor Jim, my talented friend, you have a real fan here in many fields. I appreciate all the favors through the years.”

Chet Atkins, c.g.p.