Troubled by asthma, Atkins moved south to Georgia for most of his teens, where he lived with his birth father, a singer and music teacher. ‘You jug-eared bucktooth, you’ll never do that.’ But you need that it makes you try harder, and I had enough of that to go a long way. They would make fun of me when I would express my ambitions.
“I was put down all the time by my family and everybody. His older brother and stepfather (Atkins’ parents divorced when he was 6)-were not just critical of his intentions, he says, but cruelly mocking. He says that as a small boy he announced his intention of becoming famous playing it.
CHET ATKINS OLD FASHION LOVE SONG TAB FULL
It’s worth noting that the Country Music Hall of Fame certified Atkins’ career by inducting him in 1973, a full 10 years before he decided to certify himself as a “guitar player.”Ītkins was born in Luttrell, in eastern Tennessee, and was playing guitar by age 6. He does, however, consistently play down his own accomplishments with light, self-critical quips. I’ve done it before, but not for a long time.”Ītkins isn’t one to minimize the difficulties of playing the guitar well enough to be a certified practitioner of it. “It’s tough playing a tune for two or three minutes and keeping it interesting musically.
“My old, devoted fans want that it’s the way I used to play,” he said. Now, because of feedback he has been getting through his fan club, Atkins is at work on a truly solo album that he likely will title “Almost Alone.” Atkins says that, except for a few string embellishments and a bit of outside guitar help, it will be just himself, his guitar and his foot tapping out a beat on the floor. “Read My Licks,” billed as a solo release last year, featured a slew of guest pickers and singers, including Knopfler, George Benson, Bogguss and Steve Wariner. Duets and collaborations have been the rule for Atkins in the ‘90s, including albums made with singer Suzy Bogguss and singer-guitarists Mark Knopfler and Jerry Reed. On his recordings lately, the CGP has come off as more of an SPG-for sociable guitar player. “I’ve been offered those things, but I never did accept,” Atkins, 71, said in his courteous, husky-voiced drawl. Last year, Atkins says, he had a chance to add another set of initials to his signature, when Cumberland College in his home state of Tennessee wanted to award him an honorary doctorate. Drawing on his key influences-Merle Travis, Les Paul and Django Reinhardt-Atkins developed a style of his own that laid the basis for much of the twanging that has come out of Nashville since the 1950s.Ītkins also was one of country music’s leading record producers from the late ‘50s through the 1970s, adding strings and lush backing choruses to create a pop-influenced style that came to be called the Nashville Sound. Nobody could deny that he put in the requisite course work before his self-certification. That’s where I got the idea: ‘I’ll give myself a degree I always wanted one,’ ” Atkins, who plays Thursday at the Coach House and Friday at the Galaxy Concert Theatre, recalled last week from his office in Nashville, Tenn. “There was a photographer-he’s dead now-who did a cover for my album, ‘Yestergroovin’.’ He called himself ‘Hillbilly Snapshooter,’ and once in a while he would abbreviate it. “Chet Atkins, CGP"-for “Certified Guitar Player"-is how he has been signing his name since 1983. in recognition of his half-century as a guitar ace, but he is a wryly self-effacing sort who is content to remain a plain old CGP.
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