Chet Atkins – A Session With Chet Atkins (1954)

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Simply put, this is one of the best albums you could possibly play to someone who doesn’t like country music but likes jazz – such as me. I pressed play in an attitude of cold indifference and quickly changed my tune. A Session with Chet Atkins works marvelously well as an introduction to country because Chet Atkins included an omniverous mix of ingredients while exluding a singer. Sadly, A Session with Chet Atkins is not available on solo CD – you have to get 8 Classic Albums, a four-CD compendium of his early work. On the other hand, if his early work is all as good as this, four discs might not go far enough.

The main attractions here are Atkins’ guitar playing (check out his Oslo performance on YouTube to see why) and the violin of Dale Potter, who comfortably inhabits a space in between country-swing and jazz. The Session is also notable for being the first use of celesta (sonically similar to a glockenspiel) on a country record. This sort of broad-minded eclecticm rules the day.

Since there’s no singing and the band has both spirit and technique, there’s marvelous consistency. The highpoint is ‘Caravan,’ a Duke Ellington production featuring the afforementioned childishly beautiful celesta. With a repetitive two-note riff underpinning its every movement, it has a nagging, spooky hypnotism and the first time I heard it stopped me in my tracks.

Atkins also tackles a couple of vocal jazz standards: ‘Ol’ Man River’ loses something without the singer but ‘Frankie and Johnny’ gains immeasurably from it – it’s still ‘Frankie and Johnny,’ so I still hate it, but major props to Atkins for making a version I could stand in the first place.

Otherwise there are a bunch of warm, energetic, quintessentially-country-style tunes like ‘Alabama Jubilee,’ ‘(Back Home Again in) Indiana,’ and ‘South.’ Unless you really hate steel guitar past all reason, there’s no way you can fault them. I’m less fond of ‘A Gay Ranchero,’ which sounds exactly like you might expect it to. On the other hand, Tin Pan Alley hit ‘Red Wing’ actually works very well in this wonderful stylistic melting pot of a record and he does a nice job with ‘Honeysuckle Rose’ too.

So there you have it – country-western cross-pollinating with swing, showtunes, celesta and whatever else came to hand, proving itself to be an adaptable, versatile genre with musicians at the helm who could stand proud in a landscape where all the best players were jazz. Thoroughly entertaining, memorable and stylish. It definitely belongs in your music collection.