Guitar Legend: The RCA Years

Disc 1
1	Canned Heat 2:35
2	The Nashville Jump 2:31
3	Dizzy Strings 2:42
4	Tellin' My Troubles to My Old Guitar 2:45
5	Dance of the Golden Rod 2:39
6	Galloping on the Guitar 2:28
7	Centipede Boogie 2:40
8	Main Street Breakdown 2:16
9	Indian Love Call 2:38
10	Mountain Melody 2:09
11	Jitterbug Waltz 2:36
12	Rainbow 2:36
13	Nobody's Sweetheart 2:14
14	Chinatown, My Chinatown 1:59
15	Fiddle Patch 2:19
16	(When It's) Darkness on the Delta 2:46
17	High Rockin' Swing 2:19
18	Guitars on Parade 2:21
19	Oh! By Jingo 2:13
20	The Bells of St. Mary's 2:13
21	Country Gentleman 2:14
22	Memphis Blues 2:08
23	Downhill Drag 2:22
24	Ballin' the Jack 2:56
25	Silver Bell 2:14
Disc 2
1	Mr. Sandman 2:18
2	New Spanish Two-Step 2:11
3	The Poor People of Paris (Jean's Song) 1:59
4	Tweedlee Dee 2:24
5	Wallflower (Dance With Me Henry) 2:22
6	Blue Ocean Echo 2:19
7	Trambone 2:12
8	Dig These Blues 2:24
9	Yesterdays 2:20
10	Walk, Don't Run 2:24
11	Hot Toddy 2:24
12	Slinkey 2:04
13	Frankie and Johnny 3:37
14	Windy and Warm 2:28
15	Early Times 2:40
16	Satan's Doll 3:51
17	So Rare 3:03
18	Yakety Axe 2:04
19	Blue Angel 2:25
20	Steeplechase Lane 2:26
21	Black Mountain Rag 2:35
22	Take Five 2:42
23	Blue Finger 2:38
24	Cascade 2:26
25	Carolina Shout 2:39

Barnes & Noble

Listen to any of the 50 tracks on this astounding collection of country guitar playing, and you can tell Chet Atkins loves his work. Gleaning the best from his 30-year ride with RCA, GUITAR LEGEND finds the picker grinning broadly as he tries his hand at everything from swing and string band music to dreamy pop and electronic experimentation. Underpinning it all is the musical taste and noted understatement that made Atkins one of the most celebrated and successful producers in country music. His association with RCA is the stuff of legend: After backing everyone from the Carter Family and Hank Williams to Elvis, Chet, the producer, introduced country to the mainstream with his sweet Nashville sound in the '50s and '60s. Along the way, he never stopped practicing the Merle Travis-style fingerpicking that first drew him to the guitar. GUITAR LEGEND follows him pushing the guitar into uncharted territory. From the 1947 "Dizzy Fingers" through the 1955 hit "Mr. Sandman" and the Ventures-inspiring "Walk, Don't Run," Chet lays down chunks of hip-swaying virtuosity as fun for the listener as they are astounding to other musicians. Don't miss the stellar supporting cast, including Homer and Jethro, Hank Snow, Jerry Byrd, and Charlie McCoy. A joyful set from a legend playing for the love of the game. Karl Hagstrom Miller

All Music Guide

Considering the incredible amount of influence and prestige Chet Atkins has pumped into country music in the last 50 years, it's strange that there aren't more greatest-hits packages on the market of real value. While RCA's Essential Chet Atkins attempts the near-impossible task of condensing the guitarist's vast 30-year output onto a single disc, Bear Family's four-disc box is characteristically too exhaustive and expensive to be practical. With 50 tracks spanning from his first recordings in 1947 to the Nashville Guitar Quartet sessions 30 years later, the two-disc retrospective Guitar Legend is arguably the first affordable collection to paint a comprehensive picture. Despite the inclusion of a vocal track, "Tellin' My Troubles to My Old Guitar," the set is focused on the stylistic innovations Atkins brought to Travis-picking, and thus, country music. Each phase of his development is documented, with an emphasis on his classic early group recordings. His saccharine '60s output receives minor attention, as do his ventures into straight jazz, allowing plenty of room for his trademark fingerpicking to be heard without the strings and other excesses that tended to clutter his albums. Most of his hits are here, as well as a few tracks previously unissued in the U.S. Jim Smith