| Galloping Guitar: The Early Years | ||||
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| Compilation album by | ||||
| Released | 1993 | |||
| Recorded | 1940-Nov 17, 1954 | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Label | Bear Family | |||
| Producer | Stephen H. Sholes, Chet Atkins | |||
| Chet Atkins chronology | ||||
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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.
This large boxed set (four CDs, 116 songs) focuses on Atkins' earliest recordings from 1940 to 1954. Early in his career, Atkins was signed and marketed mainly as a vocalist who played guitar. The majority of this set includes Chet’s vocal releases as well as guest vocalists. There are a number of instrumentals featured.
The track list is more extensive than Guitar Legend: The RCA Years , covering much of the same material while adding four previously unavailable songs. There are many early Atkins originals and also a large sampling of hard-to-find songs which Atkins co-wrote with Boudleaux Bryant. The biographical essay was written by country music historian Rich Kienzle, known for his expertise on the subject of country guitar.
In 2004, Bear Family released another box set of 214 tracks titled Mr. Guitar: The Complete Recordings 1955-1960.
| Review scores | |
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| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
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 and recordings 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.
Both Sides Of An Evening is the fifth studio album and released in 1961 by The Everly Brothers. Though it was released at the peak of their career, it failed to make any of the record charts.
Sweet Sounds by the Browns is a 1959 album by American country music trio, The Browns, originally released by RCA Victor. The album contains their number one hit single "The Three Bells". In 2000, this album and another RCA Victor album, Grand Ole Opry Favorites, were reissued together on one compact disc.
A Session with Chet Atkins is the third studio album recorded by American guitarist Chet Atkins. It features Atkins introducing standard pop and jazz melded with country sensibilities. The liner notes state this is the first use of a celeste on a country record. The musicians include Homer and Jethro in the rhythm section. Atkins uses his new EchoSonic amplifier for the first time on his recordings.
Stringin' Along With Chet Atkins is the second studio album recorded by American guitarist Chet Atkins on the RCA Victor label. It was available as a 10-inch vinyl record. RCA subsequently released it as a 12-inch [LP] in 1955 with additional and omitted tracks.
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.
Stringin' Along with Chet Atkins is the fourth studio album recorded by American guitarist Chet Atkins released in 1955. It was a 12-inch re-release of the 1953 10-inch vinyl record of the same name with additional and omitted tracks.
Finger-Style Guitar is the sixth studio album by American guitarist Chet Atkins, released in 1956.
Chester & Lester is a collaborative album by guitarists Chet Atkins and Les Paul released by RCA Records in 1976.
The Atkins–Travis Traveling Show is the title of a recording by guitarists Chet Atkins and Merle Travis, released by RCA Records in 1974. The two musical legends team up on 11 songs, earning the 1974 Grammy Award for Best Country Instrumental Performance. Rehearsed in Nashville, this album was recorded in California.
The Pops Goes Country is the title of the first collaborative recording by guitarist Chet Atkins and Arthur Fiedler with the Boston Pops Orchestra. The arrangements were done by Richard Hayman.
Guitar Legend: The RCA Years is a two-disc compilation recording by American guitarist Chet Atkins. The 50 tracks included here focus on his first recordings in 1947 to the 1977 release Nashville Guitar Quartet.
Reminiscing is the first collaborative long-play recording by American country music artists Chet Atkins and Hank Snow, released in 1964.
Reflections is a recording by American guitarists Chet Atkins and Doc Watson. The two musical legends team up on ten songs.
The Early Years 1946–1957 is a five-disc compilation recording by American guitarist Chet Atkins, released in 2007.
The Best of Chet Atkins & Friends is a compilation recording by American guitarist Chet Atkins, released in 1976. It peaked at number 25 on the Billboard Country Albums charts in 1977.
Please Help Me, I'm Falling is the title of a recording by American country music singer Hank Locklin, released in 1960. It marks Locklin's first release considered part of the Nashville Sound.
Everything Is Gonna Work Out Fine is an album by dobro player Jerry Douglas, released in 1987. It contains all the tracks from his two releases on the Rounder label — Fluxology and Fluxedo — except for "Say a Little Prayer for You".
Boy Wonder is a studio album by jazz guitarist Lenny Breau that was recorded in 1956 and released in 1998. The session was engineered and produced by Al Hawkes of Event Records.
The Guitar Genius is the twenty-second studio album by American guitarist Chet Atkins, released in 1963. It was reissued on CD in 1999. It was also reissued on CD along with And His Guitar in 2004. Five vocal tracks by Atkins' brother Jim were from an unreleased 1958 album to be titled My Brother Sings. That album was later released by Sundazed Records with the original RCA Victor cover art and label in 2015.
