Chet book is officially a go
Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 10:10 pmI wanted to let everyone know that my Chet book project has been OKed by my publisher. The book will most likely be titled THE GREATEST RECORDINGS OF CHET ATKINS, and it should be released by McFarland and Company in late 2014. I have been hard at work starting to put the book together, and I am very excited about the way it is coming together.
I wanted to share a story that I think sums up the kind of fun little discoveries I am making while researching Chet's music. One song that I've always been fascinated with is "Boogie Man Boogie," a Chet vocal number that features backing by Homer and Jethro and Anita Carter. I had always thought it was a significant recording, since it was so rare for Chet, Homer and Jethro to sing together on record. As I was listening to the song, it dawned on me that there was something else that was very unusual about it. Every CD that had the song on it credited Jethro as only playing mandolin on the session when the song was recorded -- but the song has no mandolin, it actually has three separate guitar parts on it. Jethro was a good guitar player as well as a mandolinist -- so it seems a certainty that Jethro played that third guitar on "Boogie Man Boogie." Chet, Homer and Jethro in the studio, all playing guitars together -- now THAT is a power trio!
I think that doing this book is going to bring me closer to Chet's music than I have ever been -- I'll never be able to come close to playing like him, but I feel like really studying his recordings is going to help me better appreciate his incredible talent. I look forward to sharing info with all of you, asking all of you questions, but hopefully not bugging you too much as I work on the book through early next year.
I wanted to share a story that I think sums up the kind of fun little discoveries I am making while researching Chet's music. One song that I've always been fascinated with is "Boogie Man Boogie," a Chet vocal number that features backing by Homer and Jethro and Anita Carter. I had always thought it was a significant recording, since it was so rare for Chet, Homer and Jethro to sing together on record. As I was listening to the song, it dawned on me that there was something else that was very unusual about it. Every CD that had the song on it credited Jethro as only playing mandolin on the session when the song was recorded -- but the song has no mandolin, it actually has three separate guitar parts on it. Jethro was a good guitar player as well as a mandolinist -- so it seems a certainty that Jethro played that third guitar on "Boogie Man Boogie." Chet, Homer and Jethro in the studio, all playing guitars together -- now THAT is a power trio!
I think that doing this book is going to bring me closer to Chet's music than I have ever been -- I'll never be able to come close to playing like him, but I feel like really studying his recordings is going to help me better appreciate his incredible talent. I look forward to sharing info with all of you, asking all of you questions, but hopefully not bugging you too much as I work on the book through early next year.