Search - Chet Atkins :: RCA Country Legends

One Of The Best Chet Atkins Compilations Ever Released On CD

07/29/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you search under "Chet Atkins" you'll find some 30 listings for this guitar legend, all but three of which have at least one review and, in most cases, multiple reviews, the exceptions being the 3-CD set The Great Chet Atkins, which came out in 2005, and two 2008 releases - Pickin' On Country and Chet Atkins At Home ... Plus. What you won't find is this Buddha release which was released way back in 2001, and its lack of reviews to this point is almost assuredly because of that Amazon oversight.



And that's too bad because this gem is one which, if you are a fan of Chet Atkins, should occupy a prominent spot in your library of music or, if discovering him for the first time, is an excellent cross-variety of his many styles. Born on June 20, 1924 (he passed away on June 30, 2001 at age 77), Chet first recorded for RCA Victor in 1947 and, after moving to Nashville in 1950, went on to become one of that area's most prolific studio musicians, at the same time adding producing to his talents. From 1960 to 1968 he served as A&R Manager for RCA, and from 1968 to 1982 was an RCA Vice President. There are, simply put, not many hit records put out by RCA that did not have Chet playing somewhere in the background.



And while achieving hit singles was never one of his priorities, he did manage to register 10 on the Country charts from 1955 to 1983, one of which crossed over to the Billboard Pop charts in addition to four more that registered there only. Winner of Country Music Association (CMA) Awards in 1967, 1968, 1969, 1981 to 1984, and 1988 as Musician Of The Year, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1973 (at age 49 the youngest to be so honoured to that point), and in 1993 won Grammy's Lifetime Achievement Award.



In this volume the earliest cuts are Barber Shop Rag and Boogie Man Boogie from 1949, the last including vocals by Chet, Homer Haynes and Jethro Burns (who would go on to great fame as the Country comedy duo of Homer & Jethro). A 1951 recording, previously unreleased in the U.S., credits Chet as the composer, but really, One Man Boogie is Pinetop Smith's immortal Boogie Woogie. In 1954 he cut one of Glenn Miller's standards, Sunrise Serenade, and from 1955 comes Cecilia, dating back to 1926 and hit versions by "Whispering" Jack Smith and Johnny Hamp, and in 1940 by Dick Jurgens & His Orchestra.



Three were done in 1956 - Petite Waltz (a hit in 1950 for Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians), Royal Garden Blues (a 1921 hit for each of The Original Dixieland Jazz Band and Mamie Smith, and Liza (All The Clouds'll Roll Away) which the great Al Jolson had a hit with in 1929. The one chosen from 1957 is even older, as Tiger Rag dates all the way back to 1918, again a hit for The Original Dixieland Jazz Band, and then numerous times over the ensuing years by a multitude of artists, the best of them being the # 1 by The Mills Brothers in 1931.



One of his Billboard Hot 100 Pop hits is at track 7, as Boo Boo Stick Beat, co-written by John D. Loudermilk, finished at # 49 in October 1959, and from 1963 we get Jerry Reed's Yes Ma'am and A Little Bit Of Blues. The entry from 1966, Prissy, was a # 30 Country for Chet that November, and representing 1970 is Ray Noble'e Cherokee, a 1939 Big Band hit for Charlie Barnet. A complete change of pace is Edmundo P. Zaldivar's Carnavalito from 1975, and rounding out the album is Jerry Hubbard's Twitchy from 1976 (Jerry Reed and Jerry Hubbard are one and the same).



By covering such a widespread part of his career, this album allows you to see how his style changed over the years, and it comes with three pages of background notes written by Rich Kienzle, a couple more nice pictures of Chet, and a complete discography of the contents, including musicians involved on each track. A jewel that should not be hidden away like this."