“Country guitar legend Chet Atkins should need little introduction for most readers, who will also realise that Chet would often go far beyond what are sometimes seen as the narrow parameters of Country – even just a glance at the track-listing will show that. The music here ranges from his first record, ‘Guitar Blues (Picking The Blues)’ released by Bullet Records in 1946 – all the remaining material here was issued by RCA - through to covers of classical material by the mid-50s, and on both acoustic and electric guitar. His “outside” influences are evident very early – listen to his jazz-styled electric guitar solo on ‘My Guitar Is My Sweetheart’ from 1948 – as is his traditional side; listen to ‘Barnyard Shuffle’ for the latter. The playing throughout this first CD shows just why Chet is so highly-rated; lend an ear to ‘One Man Boogie’ if you’re at all unsure.
CD2 continues in the same vein, though perhaps with a few more lightning-fast runs on numbers like ‘Pig Leaf Rag’. In fact, Chet, or the record company, seems to have had a thing for uptempo virtuoso rags at this time – take a listen too to ‘Dill Pickles Rag’, for example, and, no, I’m definitely not complaining! Or try ‘Frankie And Johnny’, a fine country performance with very bluesy guitar alongside the pedal steel and fiddle, an entrancing version of Duke Ellington’s ‘Caravan’, or those aforementioned classical pieces (recorded not ling after his versions of ‘Tweedle Dee’ and ‘Dance With Me Henry’. All show just why Chet is so influential.”
By Norman DARWEN - PIPELINE
