The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World

Performer: Chet Atkins
Engineer: Clark Hagan...
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Personnel: Chet Atkins (guitar); Tommy Emmamuel (guitar, bass, brushes); Clark Hagan, Paul Yandell (guitar); Johnny Gimble (fiddle); Terry McMillan (conga, harmonica, juice harp); Giles Reeves (drums, acoustic bass, strings). Recorded at CA Workshop, Nashville, Tennessee. Includes liner notes by Chet Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel. All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology. "Smokey Mountain Lullaby" was nominated for a 1998 Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance. On this 1997 release, the legendary country guitarist is teamed up with Australia's own Tommy Emmanuel. The title is taken from the approach to guitar that these two musicians use. Chet Atkins, a pioneer of the fingerpicking method, has influenced generations of guitarists with his clean, articulate sound and lyrical improvisations. On THE DAY FINGER PICKERS TOOK OVER THE WORLD, Atkins and Emmanuel take off on an upbeat and cheerful, even humorous musical journey. "Ode to Mel Bay" pokes fun at the noted author's guitar instructional books, while other compositions such as "Saltwater" and "To B or Not to B" are more pop influenced. However, jazz chords are interspersed throughout, making these tunes more harmonically interesting and complex than most pop songs. Fans of Atkins' later work will appreciate this lively, at times, swinging release. The sunny quality of songs such as "News From the Outback" and "Mr. Guitar," among others, are as infectious as they are musically optimistic.

Among fingerstyle country guitar players, perhaps only Merle Travis can rival Chet Atkins, whose distinctive sound defined an entire generation of Nashville country. Atkins has played an equally important role as a record producer. As RCA's chief Nashville producer in the '50s and '60s, Atkins oversaw sessions for Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Jim Reeves, Don Gibson, and countless others. He was one of the chief architects of the polished country style that came to be known as the "Nashville sound," but his own productions were more tasteful and appealing than those for which the genre is frequently lambasted. Atkins remained active into the '90s, but succumbed to cancer in 2001.

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