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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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