Chet Atkins
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Chester Burton Atkins (1924 - 2001)

Chester Burton (Chet) Atkins
Born in Luttrell, Union County, Tennessee, United Statesmap
Ancestors ancestors
Husband of — married 1946 [location unknown]
Father of [private daughter (1940s - unknown)]
Died at age 77 in Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, United Statesmap
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Contents

Biography

Notables Project
Chet Atkins is Notable.
Chet was an Amateur Radio Operator, Callsign: W4CGP
Chet Atkins was born in Appalachia, in Tennessee.

Chet Atkins, known as "the Country Gentleman," was one of the most highly regarded and skilled American guitarists of the twentieth century,[1][2] known for his work with Owen Bradley in developing the "Nashville Sound," a smooth, more sophisticated style of country music.[2][3][4]

Early Years

Chester Burton Atkins was born on June 20, 1924, in Luttrell, Tennessee, near Clinch Mountain on his grandfather's farm, and grew up with his mother, Ida Ella Sharp, after she and his father, James Atkins, divorced when Chet was six.[5][4] He had two brothers and a sister—he was the youngest.[2]

He started out his musical pursuits on the ukulele, later moving on to the fiddle.[2] When he was nine, he traded his brother Lowell an old pistol (or possibly a farm wagon) and some chores for a guitar that had belonged to his step-father, Willie. He started playing local parties and businesses.[4] Chet 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."[4]

He relocated in the late thirties to Fortson, Georgia, to live with his father, because of a near-fatal asthma condition.[2][6] He often stayed home from school because of his health, and taught himself banjo during those times.[4] Because of his illness, he was forced to sleep in a straight-back chair in order to breathe comfortably. On those nights, he would play his guitar until he fell asleep, and continue holding it, a habit which lasted his whole life.[2]

Chet became an accomplished guitarist while still in high school,[2] but it wasn't surprising considering his family's musical background. Chet's grandfather was a champion fiddler. His father, James, was a music teacher, piano tuner, and singer. His half brother, Jim, was a rhythm guitarist in the Les Paul Trio in the thirties. His older brother, Lowell, also played guitar.[4] He quit high school and jumped in on the spread of country music out of the South, as World War II drafted soldiers across the country. At age 17, he was a professional musician.[4]

Nashville

He made his living first playing fiddle with the "Jumpin" Bill Carlisle-Archie Campbell radio show. A producer there heard him playing guitar in down times, and drafted him to play rhythm guitar for the "Midday Merry-Go-Round" show.[4] Despite his talent, he had trouble keeping jobs because of his shyness, which was often mistaken for hostility or arrogance. His luck turned when he joined up with Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters. Their fame grew into a TV show, and more so once they started appearing on the Grand Ole Opry.[4]

He profited from the popularity of his TV time by starting to record albums. His first hit LP was The Galloping Guitars in 1949. He moved to Nashville and started work as a studio musician. By 1957, Chet was the head of recording operations at RCA Victor in Nashville. It was in this role that he convinced RCA to outbid Columbia Records and sign Elvis Presley- a decision that made the company millions.[4]

Jazz had always been a strong love of his, and often in his career he was criticized by "pure" country musicians for his jazz influences. He said on many occasions that he did not like being called a "country guitarist," insisting that he was a guitarist, period. Although he played "by ear" and was a masterful improviser, he was able to read music and even performed some classical guitar pieces. Chet's picking style was inspired by Merle Travis, Django Reinhardt, George Barnes and Les Paul. He was admired for it across music styles and geographical borders.[2] Part of Chet's talent included being able to play chords and push out a melody line at the same time, using his trademark thumb and three-finger playing style, a technique he developed trying to mimic Merle Travis' thumb and one-finger style.[3][4]

He produced records for Perry Como, Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Eddy Arnold, Don Gibson, Jim Reeves, Jerry Reed, Skeeter Davis, Connie Smith, Waylon Jennings, and many other well known artists.[2] His work in developing "Nashville Sound" is attributed to saving country music from a persistent slump it had been suffering by working to separate it from rockabilly and attract pop music fans.[3][4] The development turned Nashville into Music City, U.S.A.[4] He was known for how down-to-earth he could be, especially with those whose music careers he helped shape.[4]

He eventually worked himself out of the production side of music and back into playing, beginning worldwide tours in 1967. He wanted to have fun again.[4]

He was an amateur (i.e., ham) radio operator, earning the callsign WA4CZD as early as 1968, and obtaining the vanity call W4CGP in 1988. He was a member of the American Radio Relay League (ARRL) and was very active in amateur radio in his later years. He was a contributor to the American Radio Relay League’s promotional video The New World of Amateur Radio and later created a closing theme song for an ARRL and Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT) video Ham Radio in Space.[7]

Legacy

Chet Atkins died June 30, 2001, at his home in Nashville, Tennessee.[4][8][9][10][11] He had spent many years battling cancers, including colon cancer in the 70s and a brain tumor in 1997.[4] He was survived by his wife of 55 years, Leona, his daughter, Merle (named after one of his heroes, Merle Travis, and Leona's mother, Merle Hancock Johnson), and two granddaughters.[4] He was buried in Harpeth Hills Memory Gardens, Nashville, Davidson, Tennessee.[12]

Among many honors, Chet received 14 Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and nine Country Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year awards. He was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[2] Chet was offered numerous honorary degrees from universities, but turned them all down for his own designation as a CGP, "Certified Guitar Picker."[4] His CGP designation was reflected in his Amateur Radio vanity callsign W4CGP and in 2020, he was inducted into the QC Amateur Radio Hall of Fame, established in 2001 to recognize those radio amateurs who have made major contributions.[7]

Sources

  1. "Chet Atkins", MisterGuitar.us, official website of Chet Atkins, accessed 12 Jun 2018
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 Wikipedia:Chet Atkins
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 "21. Chet Atkins", 100 Greatest Guitarists, Rolling Stone Magazine online, www.rollingstone.com, 18 Dec 2015. Accessed 12 Jun 2018
  4. 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 Ratliff, Ben, "Chet Atkins, 77, Is Dead; Guitarist and Producer Was Architect of the 'Nashville Sound'", The New York Times online, www.nytimes.com, 1 Jul 2001. Accessed 12 Jun 2018
  5. "United States Census, 1930," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SP7F-3X2 : accessed 12 June 2018), Chester Atkins in household of Willie Stuvel, District 2, Union, Tennessee, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 3, sheet 3B, line 63, family 57, NARA microfilm publication T626 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2002), roll 2280; FHL microfilm 2,342,014.
  6. Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Year: 1940; Census Place: Blue Springs, Harris, Georgia; Roll: m-t0627-00683; Page: 5B; Enumeration District: 72-10
  7. 7.0 7.1 On All Bands An Amateur Radio Blog by DX Engineering. Legendary Recording Artist Chet Atkins, W4CGP-SK, Inducted into CQ Hall of Fame 1 Jul 2020 https://www.onallbands.com/%EF%BB%BFlegendary-recording-artist-chet-atkins-w4cgp-sk-inducted-into-cq-hall-of-fame/
  8. "United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JPBR-QZC : 20 May 2014), Chester B Atkins, 30 Jun 2001; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
  9. Ancestry.com. U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.
  10. https://qrznow.com/chet-atkins-w4cgp-guitar-legend/
  11. https://www.eham.net/article/2226
  12. Find A Grave, database and images: accessed 12 June 2018, memorial page for Chet Atkins (20 Jun 1924–30 Jun 2001), Find A Grave: Memorial #23366, citing Harpeth Hills Memory Gardens, Nashville, Davidson County, Tennessee, USA; Maintained by Find A Grave.

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Comments: 9

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Profile does not mention that he was Amateur Radio Operator W4CGP. It's on his WikiPedia page. To add the sticker use
Chet was an Amateur Radio Operator, Callsign: W4CGP
posted by Kay (Sands) Knight
Please feel free to add sourced content to the profile. (The profile should, however, cite some source other than Wikipedia.)
posted by Ellen Smith
Kay, can you show that sticker without the brackets, so I can add it? Thanks!
posted by Stephanie Ward
Sorry.... I did use the nowiki on the Amateur Radio Operators space page.

Its Occupation|image=Bob_Burley_s_Public_Domain_Images-21.png|text=was an Amateur Radio Operator, Callsign: W4CGP

And here is a good citation (and info for his bio) from CQ (a worldwide amateur radio organization). https://www.onallbands.com/%EF%BB%BFlegendary-recording-artist-chet-atkins-w4cgp-sk-inducted-into-cq-hall-of-fame/

posted by Kay (Sands) Knight
Chet Atkins is my 5th cousin twice removed. I knew we were related through my Dad's side of the family. Still very cool to see these connections come to life on Wikitree! :-)
posted by Lea Isaacs
13th cousins, once removed....I love this website!
posted by Wendy Johnson
Straight 13th cousins. Who knew? WikiTree did.
posted by Judi Stutz
My 1st cousin 5x removed of wife of great-uncle of wife of brother-in-law of brother-in-law of 4th great-aunt! LOL, does that even count?
posted by Brenda (Adkins) Wright
Straight 12th cousins. =)
posted by Shan (Ward) Dawson