Chet Atkins

Acting

Chet Atkins

Born 1924-06-20 · Luttrell, Tennessee, USA

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 and Bob Ferguson, among 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. Atkins's signature picking style was inspired by Merle Travis. Other major guitar influences were Django Reinhardt, George Barnes, Les Paul, and, later, Jerry Reed. His distinctive picking style and musicianship brought him admirers inside and outside the country scene, both in the United States and abroad. Atkins spent most of his career at RCA Victor and produced records for the Browns, Hank Snow, Porter Wagoner, Norma Jean, Dolly Parton, Dottie West, Perry Como, Floyd Cramer, Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Eddy Arnold, Don Gibson, Jim Reeves, Jerry Reed, Skeeter Davis, Waylon Jennings, and many others. Rolling Stone credited Atkins with inventing the "popwise 'Nashville sound' that rescued country music from a commercial slump," and ranked him number 21 on their list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time." Among many other honors, Atkins received 14 Grammy Awards and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He also received nine Country Music Association awards for Instrumentalist of the Year. He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, and the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum. Description above from the Wikipedia article Chet Atkins, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Big Dreams & Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story poster
5.3

Dottie West fought a difficult childhood to rise as one of country music's icons winning the first ever Grammy for Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 1965. She pushed the boundaries of country music and befriended some of their greatest musical artistes. Poor management besieged her with financial problems and she was on her way to fighting them through when she was tragically killed.

Big Dreams & Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story

1995

Country at the BBC poster
7.5

Grab your partner by the hand - the BBC have raided their archive and brought to light glittering performances by country artists over the last four decades. Star appearances include Tammy Wynette, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash and, of course, Dolly Parton. All the greats have performed for the BBC at some point - on entertainment shows, in concert and at the BBC studios. Some of the rhinestones revealed are Charley Pride's Crystal Chandeliers from the Lulu Show, Emmylou Harris singing Together Again on the Old Grey Whistle Test and Billie Jo Spears's Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad from the Val Doonican Music Show. We're brought up to date with modern country hits by kd lang, Garth Brooks, Alison Krauss and Taylor Swift, plus a special unbroadcast performance from Later... with Jools Holland by Willie Nelson.

Country at the BBC

2011

The Winding Stream poster
6.5

The story of the American music dynasty, the Carters and Cashes, and their decades-long influence on popular music.

The Winding Stream

2014

In Dreams: The Roy Orbison Story poster
6.2

Roy Orbison - In Dreams is the ultimate exclusive music documentary of the life of Roy Orbison. It provides in-depth insights into his legendary career with classic performances, personal home movies and photos, location footage and interviews with the great and the humble that he touched with his music.

In Dreams: The Roy Orbison Story

1999

In the Hank Williams Tradition poster
NR

This program traces Hank Williams' incredible life story through rare film clips, and revealing interviews with his friends and fellow performers such as Roy Acuff, Minnie Pearl and Chet Atkins. Included are performances of many of Hank's greatest songs by today's top country music recording artists who also tell how Hank Williams inspired their career.

In the Hank Williams Tradition

1989

The Genius of Lenny Breau poster
NR

This documentary explores and celebrates the all-too-short, heartbreaking but triumphant life and unworldly talent of Lenny Breau, considered by many to have been the greatest guitar player of all time. Long before the term "fusion" was coined, Lenny was melting musical boundaries to produce original pieces that borrowed from styles as diverse as jazz, classical and flamenco. Through a combination of never-before-seen archival footage and interviews with family and colleagues, viewers are offered a close-up look at a sensitive, selfless but flawed musical genius who redefined what the guitar could do. - Telefilm Canada

The Genius of Lenny Breau

1999

Ann-Margret: Rhinestone Cowgirl poster
NR

Ann-Margret singing and dancing at the Grand Ole Opry House with Minnie Pearl, Bob Hope, Perry Como and Chef Atkins.

Ann-Margret: Rhinestone Cowgirl

1977

Opry Video Classics: Hall of Fame poster
10.0

Back in 1961, the Country Music Association founded the Country Music Hall of Fame to recognize the top artists, songwriters, broadcasters and executives in the business. Hall of Fame set honors the illustrious Class of '73 - Chet Atkins and Patsy Cline - with Chet's instrumental hit Yakety Axe and Patsy's Imagine That. Johnny Cash appears twice, while Willie Nelson in Mr. Record Man shows his rarely seen pre-outlaw, clean-cut side.

Opry Video Classics: Hall of Fame

2007

Leo Kottke: Home + Away poster
NR

A sold-out performance at the Bathurst Theatre in Toronto on May 7, 1988.

Leo Kottke: Home + Away

1989

The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball poster
7.5

When the British Amnesty shows finally resumed in 1987 after a six-year hiatus, the show format was retooled in an effort to take advantage of the growing number of rock musicians supporting Amnesty. Instead of the live show being primarily a comedy show with a few musical cameos, the event made a point of giving equal emphasis to the comedy and the music.

The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball

1987

Guitar poster
NR

No synopsis available yet.

Guitar

1991

Hee Haw 10th Anniversary Celebration poster
NR

In the summer of 1969, HEE HAW moseyed into the CBS time slot occupied by The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Conceived as a rural alternative to Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, the show ranked in the top 20 nationally when CBS pulled the plug in 1971. But co-hosts Buck Owens and Roy Clark, along with the whole Kornfield Kountry gang, sang and joked on in syndication. In 1978, they grinned at the critics in a two-hour 10th-Anniversary shindig, which was videotaped with an audience of invited guests and fans at the Grand Ole Opry House. Mixing nostalgia with new performances by country music's biggest stars, this special edition of HEE HAW never misses the funnybone.

Hee Haw 10th Anniversary Celebration

1978

Chet Atkins and Friends poster
NR

Filmed live in Nashville, these musical talents demonstrate both their love and respect for Atkins as they take to the stage for an unforgettable performance. Songs include "I'll See You in My Dreams," "Walk of Life," "Precious Memories," "Island in the Sea," "Sunrise" and more.

Chet Atkins and Friends

1987

Chet Atkins: A Life in Music poster
8.0

A documentary that celebrates the life and career of musician and record executive Chet Atkins with guest stars including Dolly Parton, Mark Knopfler, George Benson, Steve Howe, Vince Gill, Randy Bachman, Les Paul, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.

Chet Atkins: A Life in Music

2000

Chet Atkins: Rare Performances 1955-1975 poster
NR

The much traveled Mr. Guitar is seen playing in this video collection everywhere from Nashville to Norway. His signature Gretsch Tennesseean guitar, on which Chet made it exquisitely effective use of its Bigsby vibrato bar, is heard in all its sweet, reverb-laden glory on many of these clips. But Chet, whose versatility embraces all styles of guitar, is also seen playing a classical guitar and a Martin dreadnaught. No matter what he plays, the produced becomes a distinct auditory fingerprint of the man known in Nashville as C. G. P. (Certified Guitar Player). The relaxed mastery evident in this video explains why Chet, along with such diverse geniuses as Thelonius Monk and Bill Monroe, was honored in 1993 with a Lifetime Achievement Award Grammy "For this peerless fingerstyle guitar technique, his extensive creative legacy documented on more than one hundred albums, and his influential work on both sides of the recording console as a primary architect of the Nashville sound."

Chet Atkins: Rare Performances 1955-1975

Nanci Griffith: Other Voices, Other Rooms poster
NR

Nanci Griffith performs her Grammy Award winning album "Other Voices, Other Rooms" live at Paramount Theater in Austin, Texas on April 28th, 1993 with special guests including Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, Townes Van Zandt, Odetta, John Prine, Guy Clark, Iris DeMent, and many more.

Nanci Griffith: Other Voices, Other Rooms

1993

Neil Diamond: Under a Tennessee Moon poster
7.8

The singer performs selections from his new album at the legendary Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tenn. with Waylon Jennings, Chet Atkins, Beth Nielsen Chapman, Buffy Lawson and Mark O'Connor.

Neil Diamond: Under a Tennessee Moon

1996

Tennessee Jamboree poster
NR

Starring Jim Reeves, Webb Pierce, and Marty Robbins along with appearances by Ray Price, June Carter, and Ernest Tubb (and many more!), this film takes you back to the country music of 1960's Nashville. Don't miss these country legends perform classic country and western tunes.

Tennessee Jamboree

1964

No artwork available
NR

Historical footage of both music legends as they play their way through their most memorable hits.

Country Music Classics: Webb Pierce and Chet Atkins

1991

Country's Family Reunion: Precious Memories (Vol. 1) poster
5.0

We’ve created Precious Memories, a two volume collection to remember the lives of the members we've lost since we started over a decade ago. STARRING Chet Atkins, Ben Colder, Goldie Hill, Box Car Willie, Roy Drusky, Billy Walker, Del Reeves, Bill Carlisle

Country's Family Reunion: Precious Memories (Vol. 1)

2016