Similar Albums:
- Artist: Chet Atkins
- Rating:
- Release Date: April 04, 2000
- Total Time: 123:48
- Type: Compilation (best of)
- Genre: Country
Review
Considering the incredible amount of influence and prestige Chet Atkins has pumped into country music in the last 50 years, it's strange that there aren't more greatest-hits packages on the market of real value. While RCA's Essential Chet Atkins attempts the near-impossible task of condensing the guitarist's vast 30-year output onto a single disc, Bear Family's four-disc box is characteristically too exhaustive and expensive to be practical. With 50 tracks spanning from his first recordings in 1947 to the Nashville Guitar Quartet sessions 30 years later, the two-disc retrospective Guitar Legend is arguably the first affordable collection to paint a comprehensive picture. Despite the inclusion of a vocal track, "Tellin' My Troubles to My Old Guitar," the set is focused on the stylistic innovations Atkins brought to Travis-picking, and thus, country music. Each phase of his development is documented, with an emphasis on his classic early group recordings. His saccharine '60s output receives minor attention, as do his ventures into straight jazz, allowing plenty of room for his trademark fingerpicking to be heard without the strings and other excesses that tended to clutter his albums. Most of his hits are here, as well as a few tracks previously unissued in the U.S. ~ Jim Smith, All Music GuideTracks
CD 1
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Canned Heat | Chet Atkins | Chet Atkins | (2:35) |
| The Nashville Jump | Chet Atkins | Chet Atkins | (2:31) |
| Dizzy Strings | Chet Atkins | Chet Atkins | (2:42) |
| Tellin' My Troubles to My Old Guitar | Chet Atkins | (2:45) | |
| Dance of the Golden Rod | Merle Travis | Chet Atkins | (2:39) |
| Galloping on the Guitar | Chet Atkins | Chet Atkins | (2:28) |
| Centipede Boogie | Chet Atkins | Chet Atkins | (2:40) |
| Main Street Breakdown | Chet Atkins | Chet Atkins | (2:16) |
| Indian Love Call | Rudolf Friml, Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach | Chet Atkins | (2:38) |
| Mountain Melody | Chet Atkins | Chet Atkins | (2:09) |
| Jitterbug Waltz | Fats Waller, Richard Maltby, Jr. | Chet Atkins | (2:36) |
| Rainbow | Chet Atkins | (2:36) | |
| Nobody's Sweetheart | Gus Kahn, Elmer Schoebel, |
Chet Atkins | (2:14) |
| Chinatown, My Chinatown | Chet Atkins | (1:59) | |
| Fiddle Patch | Chet Atkins | (2:19) | |
| (When It's) Darkness on the Delta | Al J. Neiburg, Marty Symes, |
Chet Atkins | (2:46) |
| High Rockin' Swing | Chet Atkins | (2:19) | |
| Guitars on Parade | Chet Atkins | Chet Atkins | (2:21) |
| Oh! By Jingo | Lew Brown, Albert Von Tilzer | Chet Atkins | (2:13) |
| The Bells of St. Mary's | Douglas Furber, |
Chet Atkins | (2:13) |
| Country Gentleman | Chet Atkins, Boudleaux Bryant | Chet Atkins | (2:14) |
| Memphis Blues | W.C. Handy, |
Chet Atkins | (2:08) |
| Downhill Drag | Chet Atkins, Boudleaux Bryant | Chet Atkins | (2:22) |
| Ballin' the Jack | Johnny Smith, |
Chet Atkins | (2:56) |
| Silver Bell | Chet Atkins | (2:14) |
CD 2
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Mr. Sandman | Chet Atkins | (2:18) | |
| New Spanish Two-Step | Tommy Duncan, Bob Wills | Chet Atkins | (2:11) |
| The Poor People of Paris (Jean's Song) | Marguerite Monnot | Chet Atkins | (1:59) |
| Tweedlee Dee | Chet Atkins | (2:24) | |
| Wallflower (Dance With Me Henry) | Johnny Otis, Hank Ballard | Chet Atkins | (2:22) |
| Blue Ocean Echo | Chet Atkins, Boudleaux Bryant | Chet Atkins | (2:19) |
| Trambone | Chet Atkins | Chet Atkins | (2:12) |
| Dig These Blues | Chet Atkins | (2:24) | |
| Yesterdays | Jerome Kern, Otto Harbach | Chet Atkins | (2:20) |
| Walk, Don't Run | Johnny Smith | Chet Atkins | (2:24) |
| Hot Toddy | Ralph Flanagan | Chet Atkins | (2:24) |
| Slinkey | Chet Atkins | Chet Atkins | (2:04) |
| Frankie and Johnny | Traditional | Chet Atkins | (3:37) |
| Windy and Warm | John D. Loudermilk | Chet Atkins | (2:28) |
| Early Times | Jerry Reed | Chet Atkins | (2:40) |
| Satan's Doll | Johnny Smith | Chet Atkins | (3:51) |
| So Rare | Chet Atkins | (3:03) | |
| Yakety Axe | Boots Randolph, |
Chet Atkins | (2:04) |
| Blue Angel | Chet Atkins | (2:25) | |
| Steeplechase Lane | Chet Atkins | (2:26) | |
| Black Mountain Rag | Traditional | Chet Atkins | (2:35) |
| Take Five | Paul Desmond | Chet Atkins | (2:42) |
| Blue Finger | Chet Atkins | (2:38) | |
| Cascade | Chet Atkins | (2:26) | |
| Carolina Shout | James P. Johnson | Chet Atkins | (2:39) |
