HOT on the heels of two excellent CD box sets by Jim Reeves and Flat & Scruggs come two more releases - The Chet Atkins Story and The Nashville Sound.
There must be something in the water at the moment that's prompting this attack of nostalgia but whatever the reason it is to be welcomed.
Chester Burton Atkins - or 'Chet' to you and me and the rest of the world - once said, "Years from now, after I've gone, someone will listen to what I've done and know I was here. They may not know or care who I was, but they'll hear my guitars speaking for me." Well, speak they certainly did.
Born into a musical family in Luttrell, Tennessee on June 20, 1924, Chet Atkins started his musical career learning the ukulele and the fiddle but later swapped an old pistol (as you do) for his brother's guitar and set about mastering the instrument.
In 1942 he dropped out of high school to forge a career in music and eventually ended up playing the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville with Red Foley. Spotted by Bullet Records, Chet made his recording debut with Guitar Blues in 1946 - the opening track on CD One.
Chet's inclination to slip in to jazz and blues licks cost him some jobs in the early days as he was considered to be not authentically 'country enough'.
He stuck to his guns, even though it didn't do him any favours in those early days, and his in/out flirtation with Nashville carried on for a period. Eventually he ended up staying in Music City as principal guitarist for all of RCA's Nashville sessions.
Although contracted to RCS Records, Chet was free to work elsewhere and played on a few Hank Williams MGM Records releases, including the fantastic Cold Cold Heart which shows the heartache in the voice of Williams to full effect, and the much-covered, but never surpassed, Jambalaya. Atkins was also involved in the early recording of The Louvin Brothers (whose Bluegrass harmonies influenced The Everly Brothers).
The 25 tracks on each of the four CDs cover everything from Chet's solo recordings to collaborations with Hank Williams and The Louvin Brothers and hit recordings by the likes of Web Pierce, Hank Locklin, Eddie Arnold (Just Call Me Lonesome), Kitty Wells, Elvis Presley (Heartbreak Hotel, Money Honey), Jim Reeves (Have I told You Lately That I Love You, Four Walls), The Everly Brothers classics (Bye Bye Love, Wake Up Little Susie, All I Have To Do Is Dream), Don Gilson (Oh Lonesome Me, I Can't Stop Loving You, Sea Of Heartbreak) from his amazing career.
Chet Atkins created the Nashville sound and produced hit after hit for so many artists. It has been said that modern music would sound very different if it hadn't been for the legendary multiple award-winning guitarist and songwriter who passed away on June 30, 2001.
The Nashville Sound - during the mid-1950s, with the exciting sound of rock 'n' roll gathering fans at an alarming rate, country music and blues were in danger of being left behind. In the era spanning 1955-62, country music fought back.
With the performers, producers, writer and labels all on the same wavelength, Nashville became the absolute centre, and the face, of the country music world. During this era some of the artists on these recordings were in their musical prime and the hits came thick and fast.
People who danced to the Irish showbands during that era will instantly recognise the songs because Irish bands reproduced them, as close as possible to the original, every night in ballrooms up and down the country.
Disc One (Four Walls) features a host of singers including Marty Robbins (Singing The Blues, A White Sport Coat), Bobby Helms (Fraulien), Jim Reeves (Four Walls), Don Gibson (Oh Lonesome Me, I Can't Stop Loving You), Stonewall Jackson (Waterloo), Eddy Arnold (Cattle Call, Tennessee Stud) and Webb Pierce, with the very catchy I Ain't Never that is incredibly short at 1m53s.
Disc Two (I Fall To Pieces) features legends such as Kitty Wells, Roy Drusky - what a great voice he had - Brenda Lee, George Jones, Skeeter Davis, Don Gibson, Hank Locklin (Please Help Me I'm Falling), Johnny Tillotson (Poetry In Motion), the lovely harmonies of family trio The Browns (Send Me The Pillow That You Dream On), the wonderful distinctive sound of Floyd Cramer's piano (Last Date) plus the great Patsy Cline's classic I Fall To Pieces, amongst others.
Disc Three (Lonesome Number One) and Disc Four (She Thinks I Still Care) continue in the same vein with legends such as Faron Young (Hello Walls), Slim Whitman (The Old Spinning Wheel, Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain), Leroy Van Dyke (Walk On By), Jimmy Dean (Big Bad John), Porter Wagoner, Willie Nelson, Patti Page, Burl Ives (A Little Bitty Tear), Dolly Parton and Glen Cambell (Long Black Limousine) among many others.
The terrific 31-page booklet is packed with information and great little snippets such as the claim that Jim Reeves allegedly pulled a pistol on record label boss Fabor Robinson on more than one occasion over non-payment of royalties.
It's a great box-set packed with material that you sadly don't hear too much of anymore, except perhaps in an American-themed diner.
The Chet Atkins Story and The Nashville Sound box-sets are available now on Proper Records
