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Whereas Travis’s right hand used his index finger for the melody and thumb for bass notes, Atkins expanded his right-hand style to include picking with his first three fingers, with the thumb on bass.Īfter dropping out of high school in 1942, Atkins landed a job at WNOX-AM radio in Knoxville, where he played fiddle and guitar with the singer Bill Carlisle and the comic Archie Campbell and became a member of the station’s Dixieland Swingsters, a small swing instrumental combo. This early influence dramatically shaped his unique playing style. She then declared no more CGPs would be allowed by the Atkins estate. His half-brother Jim was a successful guitarist who worked with the Les Paul Trio in New York.Ītkins did not have a strong style of his own until 1939, when (while still living in Georgia) he heard Merle Travis picking over WLW radio. In 2011, his daughter Merle Atkins Russell bestowed the CGP degree on his longtime sideman Paul Yandell.

Later in life, he lightheartedly gave himself (along with John Knowles, Marcel Dadi, Tommy Emmanuel, Steve Wariner, and Jerry Reed the honorary degree CGP (“Certified Guitar Player”). He later purchased a semiacoustic electric guitar and amp, but he had to travel many miles to find an electrical outlet, since his home had no electricity. His first guitar had a nail for a nut and was so bowed that only the first few frets could be used. He used the restroom in the school to practice, because it gave better acoustics. Stories have been told about the very young Chet, who, when a friend or relative would come to visit and play guitar, would crowd in and put his ear so close to the instrument that it became difficult for the visitor to play.Ītkins became an accomplished guitarist while he was in high school.

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He returned in the 1990s to play a series of charity concerts to save the school from demolition. While living in Fortson, he attended the historic Mountain Hill School. On those nights, he played his guitar until he fell asleep holding it, a habit which lasted his whole life. Because of his illness, he was forced to sleep in a straight-back chair to breathe comfortably. He stated in his 1974 autobiography, “We were so poor and everybody around us was so poor that it was the forties before anyone even knew there had been a depression.”įorced to relocate to Fortson, Georgia, outside of Columbus, to live with his father because of a critical asthma condition, Atkins was a sensitive youth who made music his obsession. He started out on the ukulele, later moving on to the fiddle, but traded his brother Lowell an old pistol and some chores for a guitar when he was nine. He was the youngest of three boys and a girl. His parents divorced when he was six, after which he was raised by his mother. Even though by many considered instrumental in bringing Country music mainstream with the Nashville Sound, Chet’s guitar virtuosity (he also played the mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and ukulele) was recognized with an induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which makes him eligible in this website’s line-up.

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Check out the photos and setlist below and listen to the full audio here (via the WXPN media player).īear’s Den | Photo by Noah Silvestry | silvestography.J– Chester Burton “Chet” Atkins was born on June 20th 1924 in Luttrell, Tennessee, near Clinch Mountain. The band still had fun on stage though, working through standout tracks “Agape” and “Pompeii” with tight harmonies and bringing in a cornet at key moments. The entire set was a poignant and sentimental display of balancing marching rhythms with heartaching lyrics and vulnerability. Set centerpiece “Elysium” was a quietly creeping anthem that showcased the band’s effortless ability to connect instantly with listeners through swelling instrumental arrangements and lyrics that tug at questions we all ask ourselves.

Performing tracks from their debut Agape EP, last year’s Without/Within full-length and this year’s Elysium 10″, Bear’s Den made a wonderful debut on the Marina Stage. The touring quartet weaves achingly beautiful stories that often begin deceivingly quietly before building into lush, gut-wrenching compositions.

London’s Bear’s Den may be a British folk / rock outfit, but don’t let the banjo fool you: they are not just another Mumford & Sons.

Chet atkins yakety axe live stream