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Chet Atkins

CHET ATKINS
 
 
Chet Atkins  (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001) was an American musician, occasional vocalist, songwriter, and record producer, who along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, among others, created the country music style that came to be known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country music’s appeal to adult pop music fans.  He was primarily known as a guitarist.  He also played the mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and ukulele.  His distinctive picking style and musicianship brought him admirers inside and outside the country scene, both in the United States and abroad.  Among many honors, Atkins received 14 Grammy Awards and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.  He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 

Born blind, Terri Gibbs began playing the piano when she was only three.  After hearing her sing, Nashville legend Chet Atkins asked her for a demo tape, and she came to Nashville and then Miami while still in her teens, where she played keyboards for a band called Sound Dimension.  Gibbs then played locally for several years as the Terri Gibbs Trio in and around her hometown of Augusta, GA. 

 

Her demo tape eventually made its way to a producer and songwriter named Ed Penney, who signed her to a recording contract with MCA Records. 

 

(July 2014)

 

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The band heard a track called “Walk, Don’t Run” on an album by country guitar virtuoso Chet Atkins called Hi-Fi in Focus and decided that it would make a great single for the group.  The Ventures released “Walk, Don’t Run” on their Blue Horizon label in 1960; it rose to #2 on the charts, behind only “It’s Now or Never” by Elvis Presley.  With Howie Johnson as the group’s new drummer, the band put together their excellent first album, also called Walk, Don’t Run.  When Mel Taylor joined the Ventures on drums in 1962, Nokie Edwards became the lead guitarist, with Bob Bogle moving to bass guitar. 

 

(December 2014)

 

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