Question For Norm Re The Carter Sisters

[bill_h]

Norm, on the other post about Nashville's Unwritten Rules you mentioned that the Carter Sisters threatened to not play the Opry because someone had tried to "block" Chet. I never heard that story before but would like to know more about it as I'm sure many would that had heard about it. Would you mind going into more detail about the incident?

[Norm]

It is written up extensively in the MAMG book starting around page 53.

Essentially, when WSM asked the Carters to join the Opry Chet says "Jack Strap the program manager told Mr Carter (Maybelle's husband and the group manager) the offer didn't include me."

Apparently the back and forth on this point went on for months. Eck Carter wouldn't back down and the Opry finally caved. The Carters had plenty of work and, while they liked the idea of working the Opry they were doing well without the Opry and weren't about to get bullied.

According to the writeup the union was afraid Chet would be taking too much work from guitarists already there.

[emjaybee94]

I've heard that story as well, probably from the same source Norm. Funnily enough though, Chet doesn't mention anything about that in his autobio "Country Gentleman" (Chapter 17). Even Fred Rose promised to use Chet on recording sessions if he came to Nashville. Steve Sholes was also forthcoming with sessions for RCA. If the local musicians were edgy about Chet's appearance in Nashville, Chet didn't know about it. Chet had been to Nashville before with Red Foley, so they knew what they were getting.

Regards
Mike

[Norm]

I agree with your assessment and I checked the Country Gentleman book for verification. I agree he had offers to use him when they could by some influential producers but that does not equate to a steady job.

In the MAMG story Chet was referring specifically to the Opry's balking at hiring the Carters if they included Chet. That is the subtle difference. At the time Chet working with the Carters provided him with his first really decent income.

Working on spec is fine for a single man but when you have a wife and kid, steady paychecks are kinda important. Remember, just prior to getting hired by the Carters he was thinking about tuning pianos on the side just to keep rent and food covered. Working a radio station at scale just wasn't covering it. The Carters cut him in as an equal partner, not just a per diem sideman. The recording scene wasn't as hot as it got to be once Sholes hired Chet to run Studio B and Bradley's Barn impacted the scene.

Whether the reasons were as the Cochran brothers cited in the MAMG book is something we'll never know for sure. It could be what we see should be taken at face value, Chet reminiscing at the age he was when they interviewed him and his opinion as he saw it at that time.

[Wayne Canning]

Guys here are a couple sentences of comments from a chapter in the following book about this subject.

Will You Miss Me
When I’m Gone?
The Carter Family
& Their Legacy in American Music


Mama Maybelle
Page 283:

"But Eck rejected the O’pry’s first overture in 1949 without consulting his family, because the offer came with a remarkable caveat: Chet Atkins wasn’t welcome."

"The simple fact was, Nashville session musicians didn’t want Chet Atkins taking work away from them."

Hope this helps.
Thanks, Take Care
Wayne

[David Elliott]

Whether the reasons were as the Cochran brothers cited in the MAMG book is something we'll never know for sure. It could be what we see should be taken at face value, Chet reminiscing at the age he was when they interviewed him and his opinion as he saw it at that time.

I would be inclined to place more credibility in the MAMG book than the "Country Gentleman" version of what happened, as we know that Chet, by his own words, proof-read the manuscript, whereas, as I recall, the "Country Gentleman" book seemed to have a tendency to "embellish" things a bit.

I haven't read either book in several years, so you may be right,we may never know...

[Norm]

The 'Country Gentleman' book is perfectly fine, actually. The style of the author is different is all and seems to be more of a name dropping kind of thing but I think that is more from the guy who actually wrote it rather than Chet. There are no glaring contradictions between the factoids of the two narratives and each one provides stories the other does not. The CG book has some great stories in it but, to me, the MAMG book has more depth and is a little more reflective because Chet is older and "is on the back nine" as he put it.

Bill Neely (ghost writer for Country Gentleman) wrote quite a few books. Mostly about stock car racing but also one about Roy Acuff's Nashville and one about clarinetist Pete Fountain (neither of which I have read) The Cochrans, of course are niche writers and publishers who also did a large work about Les Paul. Eddie mentioned "embellishment"...embellishment was Les Paul's middle name and his tendency to self-embellish caused problems in the writing but I digress...

The other thing is that both books are based on interviews and discussions between the authors and Chet as opposed to Chet deciding he wanted to write a book about his life. Chet had a tendency to downplay himself and his contributions even though he reluctantly admitted some appreciation for his own earlier RCA work in the MAMG book.

The two books, CG and MAMG are good companion pieces. I haven't looked at the blue biography that came out in the late sixties in so long I forget what it had in it. As I remember there were more photos than text.

I wish the Guitar Player Magazine folks would take every article their publication put out about Chet including the "lessons" which I think were largely written and tabbed out by John Knowles. They had a two issue biography about Chet that was a good read as I recall. They should take the whole bunch and combine them in one collection and make it available to people like us.

[JimP]

Hummmmm. Why in the world would the Opry NOT want Chet? At the risk of opening a can of worms...or tippin' over the first domino, I'd like to offer a supposition. Maybe the Opry thought Chet's sound was too sophisticated for the them. Until you put a guitar into his hands, Chet was for all the world to hear...an ole Tennessee country boy. When he played the guitar on the other hand, he was ultra-sophistication by any standard. His sound was unlike any ever heard with the exception of Merle Travis. I know Chet has been accused of killing traditional country music, and at that time (late 40's, early 50's), the "k" was still in "kuntry" music. I don't think the musicians were afraid he would take their jobs, I think they respected him. I think the folks who ran the Opry at that time didn't want that level of sophistication contaminating their Opry anomoly. I think they probably thought that if they let in Chet, the next thing they knew, they'd have to play "real" Opera.

I love Chet. I love country music. I love a steel guitar in country music...and a fiddle...and a drum...and I went to the Opry a couple of Saturday night's back...and I think its contaminated. Duh.

[Norm]

That's an excellent question, actually.

But remember he went to the Opry with Red Foley before he got picked up by the Carters. Working for Red on the "Prince Albert" portion of the show should have been a door opening gig but he got discouraged when the sponsor told Foley to cut the instrumental spot out of the program. Then, as now, the focus was on vocals and song lyrics. Instrumentalists that "only" play their instruments don't do well. Most well known guitarists of the day were sidemen who were allowed to "pick one for the folks." Then the focus goes back on the singer.

One of the best examples of this was the Ernest Tubb band. Here's ol' Ern' doing his list of standards. Then Leon Rhodes and Buddy Charleton would be turned loose for one of their fabulous instrumentals that were more jazz than country. After the applause died down it was back to the comfortable, steady Ernest Tubb. And the audience was perfectly content. They could sing along with Ernie or picture themselves up there, strumming a guitar and singing and making 'all that money.'


No matter who the performer was, playing the Opry only paid union scale. You cannot make a living by playing on the GOO. The advantage of playing the Opry was the exposure you got and (hopefully) the bookings you got from your appearance.

While he was there with Foley evidently he did not get much, if any, studio work so it was back to the radio stations that gave him day wages, skimpy as they might be. The fact that he did not find local work in Nashville at that time has never been discussed by anyone as far as I know but the fact remains that the producers of the day obviously did not see fit to hire him. This, I think, is where the idea that Nashville had closed ranks against him comes from.

The Carters, as we already pointed out, gave Chet a much better income than the per diem of radio.

When the clash between Ezra Carter and the GOO over whether Chet should or should not be allowed to be part of the Carter's act came at a time when several forces were at work that would crumble the barriers.

Steve Sholes wanted him. Steve worked out of New York and wanted someone to run RCA sessions for him. For whatever reason, Sholes thought Atkins was his man. Fred Rose and others sensed change in the wind and encouraged Chet to make the move. Right off the bat Chet's first production was the Don Gibson back to back hit that proved Sholes to be correct and Chet had a steady job with RCA at 75.00 a week plus all the studio and local radio time he could book. He became more in demand for personal appearances and good paying road shows. The endorsement contract with Gretsch and the popularity of the orange 6120 further gained Chet the respect he needed to get work. Those guitars, as well as the Gentleman, sold primarily because musicians wanted to sound like Chet.

Then came Studio B and between that and Bradley's Barn, the industry exploded. Largely due to the work and effect of the guitar player the GOO didn't want the Carters to bring to town.

[bill_h]

Looks like we have a pretty good discussion going here for a forum that's supposed to be dying.

I realize I'm preaching to the choir here but Chet ended up outdoing them all whether they liked him or not! Not only is he the Dean of Nashville Producers to this day, he may have saved country music from extinction by incorporating drums and possibly string piano into the recording/production process. I've heard that he's reprimanded himself for distorting the original Nashville sound by doing such things but it was a necessary evil. It could be said that he initiated the first crossover phase but he did so tastefully and for the right reasons. ( possibly the only time it's been done tastefully and for the right reasons in music row history.)

Chet even groomed Bill Porter to be arguably the greatest sound engineer in history. As a result some of those classic Nashville recordings may be some of the best mixed recordings to this day.

I honestly can't think of anyone in all of musoc that has accomplished more than Chet.

Speaking of Don Gibson, I heard from a veteran Nashville songwriter who will remain nameless that "Oh Lonesome Me" was written by a desk clerk at a hotel in Chatanooga. He played the song for Don Gibson and Don gave him a $50 bill for it. Don made a point to stay at that same hotel when he could and if the desk clerk had written a song that he liked, he'd always be willing to give him a $50 bill for it. ( Reckon any of those songs produced more than $50 in writer's royalties )