Guitar Picker/Finger Pickin' Good

Performer: Chet Atkins
Distributor: Gotham Distributing Corp.

Notes: 2 LPs on 1 CD: GUITAR PICKER (1971)/FINGER PICKIN' GOOD (1972). Arranger: Chet Atkins. On this two-for-one CD, most of the songs are culled from the Great American Songbook or the Appalachian folk tradition. Exceptions are a superb Western version of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" and the much-loved African-based tune "Wimoweh," which may be better known as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." Thoughtful renditions of Irving Berlin's "You're Just in Love" and Harry Warren's "Shadow Waltz" show the scope of Atkins's repertoire, as do clever arrangements of lesser-known country standards "Cattle Call" and "Old Joe Clark." Atkins's upbeat hit "Yakety Axe" is also included toward the end of the disc. With every track recorded before 1972, this is really classic Atkins material. He plays with all the Travis-picking pizzazz for which he's famous, and the collection moves from livelier tunes to ballads and back again with both grace and alacrity. The last track, "Back to Old Smoky Mountain," is the only selection that contains vocals (as sung by Atkins and a small female choir), and this cheerful song may be the highlight of the disc.

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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