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(Guitar, producer, 1924–2001) Tennessee-born Chester Burton Atkins, whose father was a music teacher, was one of the most influential twentieth-century guitarists, and was initially influenced by the finger- and thumb-picking country-style playing of Merle Travis. Signed to RCA from 1947, he made scores of mainly instrumental albums, and in 1955 became the head of ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

As the first superstar instrumentalist to emerge from the modern Nashville recording scene, Chet Atkins (1924–2001) was a living legend for most of his life, but the Nashville-based guitarist was also a producer, engineer, label executive and A&R man without peer. Chester Burton ‘Chet’ Atkins was born on in June 1924 in Luttrell, Tennessee. He started ...

Source: Rock Guitar Heroes, consultant editor Rusty Cutchin

One of modern country music’s most remarkable figures, Chester Burton Atkins born in Luttrell, Tennessee, rose from rural obscurity to become one of the world’s most celebrated guitarists and one of Nashville’s most influential record producers. Atkins’ musical vision did much to shape country music during the 1950s and 1960s. Early Years Atkins was born on 20 June ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

(Trumpet, 1929–88) Chet Baker was an icon of cool at the height of his fame in the 1950s. His recording of ‘My Funny Valentine’ with Gerry Mulligan in 1952 established him as a star of the emerging cool jazz genre; his boyish, film-star looks (later ravaged by drug abuse) and a light, seductively lyrical trumpet style assured his ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band started out in 1966 as a student jug band in Los Angeles, and in an early incarnation it included a teenage Jackson Browne. Among the group’s founder members was singer and guitarist Jeff Hanna. Both Hanna and multi-instrumentalist Jimmie Fadden are still Dirt Band members 40 years on. The extremely ambitious Will The Circle Be ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

From its roots, country music has been associated with simplicity – in melody, in subject-matter and in instrumentation, and it is this that has perhaps ensured its longevity. However, all good musicians make their craft look simple, and the history of country music is packed with virtuosos, from the pioneering banjoist Earl Scruggs, through ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

The 1950s and 1960s were milestone decades for country music. It was during these years that the stylistic tensions between traditional and contemporary, rural and urbane, became sharply delineated and the first ideological and aesthetic battle lines between the traditionalists and modernists were drawn in the sand. Out of this tension arose bold innovation and refreshing diversity. The 1950s ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

(Vocals, b. 1937) Columbia, South Carolina-born James William Anderson emerged as one of Nashville’s most celebrated songwriters in 1958, when Ray Price took his ‘City Lights’ to the top of the charts. Anderson soon signed his own recording contract with Decca Records and joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1961. In the years since he has parlayed his ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

(Vocals, b. 1938) With his richly textured baritone, Pride had a nearly unmatched string of 29 No. 1 country hits from the mid-1960s until the late 1980s. Perhaps more significantly, Pride is merely the symbolic tip of the iceberg – only the most visible of many gifted but far less celebrated black singers who, just like their ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

Rock’n’roll guitarist Duane Eddy was born in Corning, New York in 1938. His interest in the guitar began when he was five, inspired by singing film-cowboy Gene Autry. In 1951, the family moved to Arizona. While playing guitar in a country duo, Duane met songwriter, producer and disc jockey Lee Hazelwood. The pair embarked on a ...

Source: Rock Guitar Heroes, consultant editor Rusty Cutchin

One of rock’n’roll’s most influential guitarists, Eddie Cochran was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota in 1938. Eddie wanted to join the school band as a drummer, but opted for trombone when he was told that he would have to learn piano before being allowed to play drums.  When advised that he didn’t have the ‘lip’ for trombone ...

Source: Rock Guitar Heroes, consultant editor Rusty Cutchin

Elvis Aaron Presley was born in his family’s shot-gun shack in Tupelo, Mississippi, on 8 January 1935. His twin brother died at birth, and his mother doted on her sole son. He showed musical aptitude early, and loved to sing at the local First Assembly of God church. His mother, Gladys and father, Vernon, ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

(Piano, songwriter, 1933–97) This Santi, Louisiana-born pianist was to country piano in the 1950s and 1960s what his mentor Chet Atkins was to guitar. Cramer’s distinct ‘slip-note’ style became a hallmark of the Nashville sound. As a soloist, he also recorded dozens of albums and scored some crossover pop hits with ‘Last Date’ (1960) and ‘San Antonio ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

(Tenor saxophone, 1925–74) The son of pianist Albert Ammons, Gene was equally at home in jazz and R&B settings. He was a prolific recording artist and his hard-hitting, emotionally direct blowing in a blues and funk vein also featured in a popular two-tenor band, co-led by Sonny Stitt. His work in a soul-jazz idiom with organists such ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

Pigeonholed as the ‘quiet one’, misunderstood as an adopter of Eastern religion and music, and overshadowed (sometimes maligned) by his prolific, trail-blazing bandmates Lennon and McCartney, George Harrison (1943–2001) might have become a footnote in musical history. But as a member of The Beatles, Harrison made the words ‘lead guitar’ a household term and steadily developed as ...

Source: Rock Guitar Heroes, consultant editor Rusty Cutchin
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