The Essential

Performer: Chet Atkins
Producer: Mark Knopfler; Chet Atkins; Lenny Breau; Archie Bleyer; Anita Kerr; Jim Bullet; Chester B. Atkins; Stephen H. Sholes; Bob Ferguson; Charles Grean; Bob Irwin (Compilation)
Distributor: Sony Music Distribution (

Notes: Additional personnel: Jerry Reed, Lenny Breau, Les Paul, Mark Knopfler, Merle Travis. THE ESSENTIAL CHET ATKINS is a solid two-disc overview of one of country music's true pioneers. Chet Atkins, as an artist, session guitarist, and producer, is one of the key figures in country music, the man most responsible for the development of the pop-oriented "countrypolitan" sound in the 1960s. This 40-track anthology covers all of Atkins's career and includes such canonical Atkins favorites as "Guitar Blues (Pickin' the Blues)" and "Country Gentleman," which provided the guitarist with his nickname. The set also includes comparative rarities such as a collaboration with Mother Maybelle Carter on the old folk standard "Root Hog Or Die" and the late-1950s stab at rock & roll, "Teen Scene." This is an ideal starting point for novices.

Dirty Linen (p.76) - "THE ESSENTIAL CHET ATKINS showcases his considerable skills on the guitar....The dynamic duo of Chet Atkins and Les Paul is a formidable six-string powerhouse if ever there was one."

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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