Chet Atkins And His Guitar / The Guitar Genius

by Chet Atkins

Description by OLDIES.com:

This 22-track audio CD contains two Chet Aktins albums originally released on the RCA Victor budget label Camden.

Product Description:

2 LPs on 1 CD: CHET ATKINS AND HIS GUITAR: THE EARLY YEARS (1961)/GUITAR GENIUS (1963).

Chet Atkins was one of the greatest guitar innovators of all time. Atkins is heard on this two-for-one disc playing no less than 22 superb "countrypolitan" tracks. On this collection, one of the finest tunes is Atkins's version of Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel," where the revered guitarist brings out the country roots in this song through his dazzling Travis picking style. However, nowhere on this disc is Atkins's playing more virtuosic than on "Kentucky Derby," a song that borrows generously from the famous "William Tell Overture." (The horse-galloping sound is imitated here by an uncredited person slapping their legs.)

Atkins is not a one-trick pony, though; he dabbles in a handful of stylistic changes on these albums. For example, "Mountain Melody" and "Darling, Je Vois Aime Beaucoup" combine country swing with French jazz a la Django Reinhardt. On a few of these tracks, Atkins even sings, and his warm baritone voice is particularly effective on the upbeat, chestnut, "Swanee River."