Chet Atkins

Chet Atkins

Born: June 20, 1924
Died: June 30, 2001
in Luttrell, Tennessee, USA
Chester Burton "Chet" Atkins, known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", 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.

Atkins's signature picking style was inspired by Merle Travis. Other major guitar influences were Django Reinhardt, George Barnes, Les Paul, and, later, Jerry Reed. His distinctive picking style and musicianship brought him admirers inside and outside the country scene, both in the United States and abroad. Atkins spent most of his career at RCA Victor and produced records for the Browns, Hank Snow, Porter Wagoner, Norma Jean, Dolly Parton, Dottie West, Perry Como, Floyd Cramer, Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Eddy Arnold, Don Gibson, Jim Reeves, Jerry Reed, Skeeter Davis, Waylon Jennings, and many others.

Rolling Stone credited Atkins with inventing the "popwise 'Nashville sound' that rescued country music from a commercial slump," and ranked him number 21 on their list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time." Among many other honors, Atkins received 14 Grammy Awards and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He also received nine Country Music Association awards for Instrumentalist of the Year. 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.

Description above from the Wikipedia article Chet Atkins, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movies for Chet Atkins...

Country's Family Reunion: Precious Memories (Vol. 1)
Title: Country's Family Reunion: Precious Memories (Vol. 1)
Character: Self
Released: February 18, 2016
Type: Movie
We’ve created Precious Memories, a two volume collection to remember the lives of the members we've lost since we started over a decade ago. STARRING Chet Atkins, Ben Colder, Goldie Hill, Box Car Willie, Roy Drusky, Billy Walker, Del Reeves, Bill Carlisle
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The Winding Stream
Title: The Winding Stream
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: March 15, 2014
Type: Movie
The story of the American music dynasty, the Carters and Cashes, and their decades-long influence on popular music.
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Opry Video Classics: Hall of Fame
Title: Opry Video Classics: Hall of Fame
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: November 21, 2007
Type: Movie
Back in 1961, the Country Music Association founded the Country Music Hall of Fame to recognize the top artists, songwriters, broadcasters and executives in the business. Hall of Fame set honors the illustrious Class of '73 - Chet Atkins and Patsy Cline - with Chet's instrumental hit Yakety Axe and Patsy's Imagine That. Johnny Cash appears twice, while Willie Nelson in Mr. Record Man shows his rarely seen pre-outlaw, clean-cut side.
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In Dreams: The Roy Orbison Story
Title: In Dreams: The Roy Orbison Story
Character: Self
Released: October 7, 1999
Type: Movie
Roy Orbison - In Dreams is the ultimate exclusive music documentary of the life of Roy Orbison. It provides in-depth insights into his legendary career with classic performances, personal home movies and photos, location footage and interviews with the great and the humble that he touched with his music.
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Neil Diamond: Under a Tennessee Moon
Title: Neil Diamond: Under a Tennessee Moon
Character: Self - Guest Artist
Released: February 24, 1996
Type: Movie
The singer performs selections from his new album at the legendary Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn. with Waylon Jennings, Chet Atkins, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Buffy Lawson and Mark O'Connor.
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Big Dreams & Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story
Title: Big Dreams & Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story
Character: Chet Atkins
Released: January 22, 1995
Type: Movie
Dottie West fought a difficult childhood to rise as one of country music's icons winning the first ever Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1965. She pushed the boundaries of country music and befriended some of their greatest musical artistes. Poor management besieged her with financial problems and she was on her way to fighting them through when she was tragically killed.
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Nanci Griffith: Other Voices, Other Rooms
Title: Nanci Griffith: Other Voices, Other Rooms
Character: Self
Released: December 31, 1993
Type: Movie
Nanci Griffith performs her Grammy Award winning album "Other Voices, Other Rooms" live at Paramount Theater in Austin, Texas on April 28th, 1993 with special guests including Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt, Odetta, John Prine, Guy Clark, Iris DeMent, and many more.
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Guitar
Title: Guitar
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1991
Type: Movie
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Country Music Classics: Webb Pierce and Chet Atkins
Title: Country Music Classics: Webb Pierce and Chet Atkins
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: January 1, 1991
Type: Movie
Music/Musical - Historical footage of both music legends as they play their way through their most memorable hits. - Webb Pierce - Actor, Chet Atkins - Actor
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The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball
Title: The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1987
Type: Movie
When the British Amnesty shows finally resumed in 1987 after a six-year hiatus, the show format was retooled in an effort to take advantage of the growing number of rock musicians supporting Amnesty. Instead of the live show being primarily a comedy show with a few musical cameos, the event made a point of giving equal emphasis to the comedy and the music.
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Title: Nashville 99
Character: Chet Atkins
Released: April 1, 1977
Type: TV
Featuring Claude Atkins as Metro Nashville police lieutenant and Jerry Reed as his sidekick, this show features many country music personalities and is shot on location at various downtown Nashville sites as well as other locations (including Opryland).
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Title: The Secret Policeman's Ball
Character: Self
Released: April 1, 1976
Type: TV
A series of benefit shows staged initially in the United Kingdom to raise funds for the human rights organisation Amnesty International. The shows started in 1976 featuring popular British comedians but later included leading musicians and actors. The Secret Policeman's Ball shows are credited by many prominent entertainers with having galvanised them to become involved with Amnesty and other social and political causes in succeeding years.
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Title: Numéro un
Character: Self
Released: April 5, 1975
Type: TV
A French variety show.
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Title: The Johnny Cash Show
Character: Self
Released: June 7, 1969
Type: TV
The Johnny Cash Show was an American television music variety show hosted by Johnny Cash. The Screen Gems 58-episode series ran from June 7, 1969 to March 31, 1971 on ABC; it was taped at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. The show reached No. 17 in the Nielsen ratings in 1970. Cash opened each show, and its regulars included members of his touring troupe, June Carter Cash and the Carter Family, The Statler Brothers, Carl Perkins, and The Tennessee Three, with Australian-born musical director-arranger-conductor Bill Walker. The Statler Brothers performed brief comic interludes. It featured many folk-country musicians, such as Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Linda Ronstadt, Kris Kristofferson, Mickey Newbury, Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Merle Haggard, James Taylor and Tammy Wynette. It also featured other musicians such as jazz great Louis Armstrong, who died eight months after appearing on the show.
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Tennessee Jamboree
Title: Tennessee Jamboree
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 1964
Type: Movie
Starring Jim Reeves, Webb Pierce, and Marty Robbins along with appearances by Ray Price, June Carter, and Ernest Tubb (and many more!), this film takes you back to the country music of 1960's Nashville. Don't miss these country legends perform classic country and western tunes.
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Title: The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
Character: Self
Released: October 1, 1962
Type: TV
The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
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Title: The Ed Sullivan Show
Character: Self - Guitarist
Released: June 20, 1948
Type: TV
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
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Chet Atkins: Rare Performances 1955-1975
Title: Chet Atkins: Rare Performances 1955-1975
Character: Self
Released: December 31, 1969
Type: Movie
The much traveled Mr. Guitar is seen playing in this video collection everywhere from Nashville to Norway. His signature Gretsch Tennesseean guitar, on which Chet made it exquisitely effective use of its Bigsby vibrato bar, is heard in all its sweet, reverb-laden glory on many of these clips. But Chet, whose versatility embraces all styles of guitar, is also seen playing a classical guitar and a Martin dreadnaught. No matter what he plays, the produced becomes a distinct auditory fingerprint of the man known in Nashville as C. G. P. (Certified Guitar Player). The relaxed mastery evident in this video explains why Chet, along with such diverse geniuses as Thelonius Monk and Bill Monroe, was honored in 1993 with a Lifetime Achievement Award Grammy "For this peerless fingerstyle guitar technique, his extensive creative legacy documented on more than one hundred albums, and his influential work on both sides of the recording console as a primary architect of the Nashville sound."