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When I was 16 years old I worked in the mailroom at RCA records in New York.
The year was 1966. I was fortunate enough to be responsible for delivering the mail on the fifth floor which was the A&R department. I,of course,became friendly with all
of the secretarys to the producers and actually became acquainted with a couple of
A&R men myself.
My ultimate dream was to find some way to meet Chet Atkins,my hero. Sometimes
I'd bring a guitar to work and during lunch hour I'd sit in the mailroom and fingerpick a
Chet arrangement and hope someone of importance might hear.
Well one day I got lucky! The resident jazz producer Brad McCuen heard me playing
and asked me if I would like to meet Chet!?! He called Mary Lynch,Chet's assistant
and made an appointment for me to go to the Nashville studios and get an intro.
Dreams do come true! I not only got to meet him,but I stayed there a whole week
hanging around (quietly,politely,and unobtrusively) and got to watch Chet produce a
Homer and Jethro album called "It Ain't Necessarily Square".
To this day,at 53 years old,I still get misty eyed thinking of how nice this giant of a man
and recording star treated me. He thought nothing of introducing me to prominent
people who attended the sessions and even demonstrated a couple of licks for me.
Today,at home,I keep a few interoffice memos which he and I exchanged as family
treasures.
- Eric Kushins
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