The Chetboard

Video of Chet Atkins and Les Paul performing Deed I Do during the 1977 Country Music Awards and receiving the 'Best Country Instrumental Performance' award for their collaboration album Chester & Lester.

Chet Atkins & Les Paul - Deed I Do and receiving CMA Award ('77)

Chet sounded really good but the crap Les played , not so much. Just my opinion.

I hope I don't upset anyone but, Les Paul's playing never did anything for me. Just my opinion. - Regards, Tom W.

OK, I didn't want to start anything but I'm with Roger and Tom. Those of you who are familiar with my posts know my attraction to and focus on technique, and listening to them together told me a lot but then to see them in videos like this were more revealing than I cared to be aware of....lol. I'll never forget getting their first album when it first came out and my wife heard it and commented "I'd prefer to hear more of Chet and less of Les!" and she wasn't a guitarist or even a musician. Even without watching them in action you could hear the HUGE difference in finesse! Chet was so articulate and Les's contribution sounded as valuable as banging a metal spoon on a garbage can lid. What kind of control can one expect with arms flailing all over the place like I saw here? I know that he had a lot of status because of his history and what he did for development of electric guitars but to play with Chet like he did felt like he was contaminating the project! It will sound blasphemous to some but it felt like it was political just to work together. And then they did a second album! I purchased it, hoping to hear an improvement but no such luck! I've even read stories of how obnoxious Les was was to work with.There, I said it and you can all shoot me the next time you see me at the convention! You can also post hate comments as I continue to post more videos!.......lol

Gee whiz....I thought I was going to get hammered after I posted that reply but glad to hear that I'm not the only one who is not a huge LP fan. I give the man his due and I must admit that I loved the early recordings of him and Mary Ford but he was not the main attraction to me it was her!

I agree with you guys. I thought Les was a little off his game in the video, and the mix was not very good. And like Roger said, my favorite Les stuff was the early stuff with Mary Ford. I appreciate the fact that he continued to play a regular gig until his death, and I think he deserved the accolades for the things he did for guitar playing and music technology. He did great things, but I prefer to listen to Chet's playing. Chet could play whatever Les played, but Les couldn't play what Chet played.

Bill B.

not an lp fan but when watching Les on video keep in mind he had arthritis that was pretty relentless on his hands

Les was a pretty good guitar player...you can hear some of him in Chet's playing but what put Les on the map was Mary Ford. She enhanced the sound on sound stuff Les had worked out and brought all that technique to world attention because listeners like to sing along.

I prefer to listen to Chet, of course but once in a while I will defend that irritating little guy with the busted right elbow

Right on Norm!!

Chet once said about Les that he never heard him play a note in bad taste. He admired Les and it sure looked like the were having fun on that video. Check out this video below of Les. Yeah, I know it ain't Chet, but there is some nice stuff going on there too.

https://youtu.be/tHx_VC2wNkk

I agree that Les Paul deserves respect and honor for his contributions to guitar and the music industry. My issue was with the combination of him performing with Chet. I felt that he was a huge distraction from Chet's refinement and sort of ruined that feeling of perfection that I've always been used to when listening to Chet.