category: instrumental country / pop / easy listening

Album review:
For better or worse, no one did more to shape the "Nashville Sound" than Chet Atkins. As a session guitarist, producer, and label executive, he took the western out of country & western, replacing the hard twang of traditional country guitar with a smoother "countrypolitan" polish. Though his instrumental recordings under his own name barely hint at the extent of his influence, the guitarist's impeccable touch, tone, and timing--a virtuosity of control rather than speed--rank him with the most renowned Nashville musicians.

This 16-track companion volume to the comprehensively superior Guitar Legend: The RCA Years offers an eclectic selection of album tracks, minor singles, and a couple of previously unreleased performances, showcasing a range that extends from the jazz inflections of "Cherokee" to the blues of "One Man Boogie" to the flamenco-tinged classicism of "Carnavalito." As the closing "Liza" from the Gershwin songbook attests, Atkins may have defined the country sound of the '60s, but he wasn't limited to it. -- Don McLeese

CD Track Listing

  1. Yes Ma'am (w/Floyd Cramer: piano) (Jerry Reed) (2:15)
  2. Petite Waltz (trad. arr. Chet Atkins) (2:48)
  3. One Man Boogie (w/Beaver Valley Sweethearts: vocal chorus) (Chet Atkins) (2:40)
  4. Prissy (Priscilla Hubbard) (2:30)
  5. Barber Shop Rag * (Chet Atkins) (2:49)
  6. Carnavalito (Edmundo P. Zaldivar) (3:12)
  7. Boo Boo Stick Beat (Murray Harmon / J.D.Loudermilk) (2:10)
  8. Cecilia (Ruby / Dreyer) (2:26)
  9. Royal Garden Blues (w/The Country All-Stars feat.George Barnes: lead guitar) * (Spencer & Clarence Williams) (2:19)
10. Sunrise Serenade * (Carle / Brown) (2:45)
11. Tiger Rag (Sharbarro / Edwards / Ragas / Shields / Larocca / Decosta) (1:53)
12. Twichy (guitar duet w/Jerry Reed) (Jerry R. Hubbard) (3:30)
13. Boogie Man Boogie * (Chet Atkins) (2:48)
14. Cherokee (Ray Noble) (2:43)
15. A Little Bit Of Blues (Jerry Reed) (2:57)
16. Liza (Kahan / Ira & George Gershwin) (2:44)

  * Homer Haynes (rhythm guitar) & Jethro Burns (mandolin)

Total timing: 42:37

Label/No: Buddha Records 99836-2

Release date: 2001 reissue