Chester Atkins - Guitar Blues

The History of Guitar in America: Chet Atkins

Episode 15

Episode date - May 31, 2024

How Music Changed
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    Episode 15 of our series on American guitar players is another show dedicated to one artist exclusively, and it may be the last.

    Chet Atkins was a remarkable anomaly in Nashville music. He was a guitar player who once was fired because he didn’t sound ‘country’ enough, which is stunningly ironic considering how he became one of the most (maybe THE most) important players/producers of country music in his generation. I guess he figured if he couldn’t go to the mountain, then he’d make the mountain come to him, which he did by moving the sound of country music closer to his own personal tastes.

    Featured tracks include:

    Get Up and Go

    Guitar Blues

    Nobody’s Sweetheart

    Main Street Breakdown (w/ Homer and Jethro)

    Mister Sandman

    Silver Bell (w/ Hank Snow)

    Yankee Doodle Dixie

    Country Gentleman

    Trambone

    Teen Scene

    Yakety Axe

    Chinatown, My Chinatown

    I Saw the Light (w/ Jerry Reed)

    It’s Been a Long, Long Time (w/ Les Paul)

    Poor Boy Blues (w/ Mark Knopfler)

    Channel 30 - The History of Guitar in America 1922-1962