Almost Alone | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | May 1996 | |||
Recorded | Nashville, TN | |||
Genre | Country, pop | |||
Label | Columbia | |||
Producer | Chet Atkins | |||
Chet Atkins chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [1] |
Almost Alone is the fifty-seventh studio album by Chet Atkins. He was 71 at the time of the album's release. It is almost all solo guitar instrumentals. "Jam Man" won the 1997 Grammy award for Best Country & Western Instrumental Performance.
Atkins replaced the E and A normal guitar bass strings on a Gibson Country Gentleman guitar with thicker strings on "I Still Write Your Name in the Snow" to lower them an octave, giving a fuller bass accompaniment effect. There are no overdubs except for "Jam Man" and "You Do Something to Me". "Jam Man" uses a musical effect of the same name. [2]
As part of the promotion for the release, Atkins signed 125 Gibson Epiphone guitars that were given away in contests around the country. [3]
All songs by Chet Atkins unless noted.
Chart (1996) | Peak position |
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U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums | 74 |
Chester Burton "Chet" Atkins, known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician, occasional vocalist, songwriter, and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, Bob Ferguson and others, created the country music style that came to be known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country music's appeal to adult pop music fans. He was primarily known as a guitarist. He also played the mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and ukulele.
An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes. It uses one or more pickups to convert the vibration of its strings into electrical signals, which ultimately are reproduced as sound by loudspeakers. The sound can be shaped or electronically altered to achieve different timbres or tonal qualities, making it quite different than an acoustic guitar. Often, this is done through the use of effects such as reverb, distortion and "overdrive"; the latter is considered to be a key element of electric blues guitar music and rock guitar playing.
The Carter Family is a traditional American folk music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956. Their music had a profound impact on bluegrass, country, Southern Gospel, pop and rock musicians as well as on the U.S. folk revival of the 1960s.
The Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance was awarded from 1970 to 2011. Between 1986 and 1989 the award was presented as the Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance .
Leonard Harold Breau was a Canadian-American guitarist and music educator. Breau blended many styles of music, including jazz, country, classical, and flamenco. Inspired by country guitarists like Chet Atkins, Breau used fingerstyle techniques not often used in jazz guitar. By using a seven-string guitar and approaching the guitar like a piano, he opened up possibilities for the instrument.
Merle Robert Travis was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and guitarist born in Rosewood, Kentucky, United States. His songs' lyrics often discussed both the lives and the economic exploitation of American coal miners. Among his many well-known songs are "Sixteen Tons," "Re-Enlistment Blues," "I am a Pilgrim," and "Dark as a Dungeon." However, it is his unique guitar style, still called Travis Picking by guitarists, as well as his interpretations of the rich musical traditions of his native Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, for which he is best known today. "Travis Picking" is a syncopated style of guitar fingerpicking rooted in ragtime music in which alternating chords and bass notes are plucked by the thumb while melodies are simultaneously plucked by the index finger. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1977.
Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking. The term "fingerstyle" is something of a misnomer, since it is present in several different genres and styles of music—but mostly, because it involves a completely different technique, not just a "style" of playing, especially for the guitarist's picking/plucking hand. The term is often used synonymously with fingerpicking except in classical guitar circles, although fingerpicking can also refer to a specific tradition of folk, blues and country guitar playing in the US. The terms "fingerstyle" and "fingerpicking" also applied to similar string instruments such as the banjo.
The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World is an album by American guitarist Chet Atkins and Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel. Recorded when Atkins was 73, this was his last release of original material in the 20th century. "Smokey Mountain Lullaby" was nominated for the 1997 Grammy Award for Country Instrumental Performance.
Simpatico is an album by Suzy Bogguss and Chet Atkins, released in 1994.
The Carter Sisters, were an American singing quartet consisting of Maybelle Carter and her daughters June Carter Cash, Helen Carter, and Anita Carter. Formed during World War II, the group recorded and performed into the 1990s.
Chet Atkins' Gallopin' Guitar is the first studio album released by American guitarist Chet Atkins on the RCA Victor label. It was available as a 10-inch vinyl record.
C.G.P. is the fifty-fifth studio album by Chet Atkins. It was released in 1988 by Columbia Records. The initials in the title refer to the Atkins-coined title "Certified Guitar Player", a moniker he assigned not only to himself but other guitarists he admired and felt contributed to the legacy of guitar playing.
Stay Tuned is the fifty-second studio album by Chet Atkins on his new label Columbia after recording and producing for RCA Victor since the 1950s. His guests include Larry Carlton, George Benson, Mark Knopfler, Steve Lukather, Earl Klugh, Boots Randolph, David Hungate, Dean Parks and Mark O'Connor.
Heroes & Friends is the sixth studio album by American country music artist Randy Travis, released in 1990. Except for the title track, every song on this album is a duet with another recording artist. "A Few Ole Country Boys" and the title track were both released as singles from this album, peaking at numbers 8 and 3, respectively, on the Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks charts in 1990.
Jazz From the Hills is an album by American guitarist Chet Atkins and The Country All-Stars. It is a reissue of sessions from 1952–1956.
The Essential Chet Atkins: The Columbia Years is a compilation recording by American guitarist Chet Atkins. The 15 tracks included here are from his recordings on the Columbia label from 1983 to the 1997. The tracks have all been digitally remastered.
The Essential Chet Atkins is a two-disc compilation recording by American guitarist Chet Atkins, released in 2007 on the Legacy label.
Galloping Guitar: The Early Years is a multi-disc box-set retrospective recording by American guitarist Chet Atkins, released in 1993 on the Bear Family label.
Reminiscing is the title of the first collaborative long-play recording by American country music artists Chet Atkins and Hank Snow, released in 1964.
The Best of Chet on the Road — Live is a live album by guitarist Chet Atkins, released in 1980.