Chet Atkins' Workshop

Chet Atkins' Workshop
Studio album by Chet Atkins
Released	December 1960
Recorded	Nashville, TN
Genre	Jazz, pop
Length	27:01
Label	RCA Victor LSP-2232 (Stereo)
Producer	Chet Atkins
Chet Atkins chronology
The Other Chet Atkins (1960) Chet Atkins' Workshop (1960) The Most Popular Guitar (1961)

Chet Atkins' Workshop is a recording by American guitarist Chet Atkins. Full of pop and jazz stylings and no country, this became his best-selling LP to date, peaking at No. 7 on the Billboard Pop album charts.

History

Atkins is once again pictured on the cover in his home studio in Nashville. The liner notes are by David Halberstam, then writing for The Tennessean in Nashville, Tennessee, and discuss his practice of recording rhythm tracks in the RCA studio and then going home with the tapes to perfect his guitar part in his own studio.^[1] "The workshop resembles a small scale Cape Canaveral. In it is approximately $8,000 worth of electronic and electrical equipment, much of it built by Atkins himself: a small maze of mixing panels, a three channel stereo tape recorder, a one channel recorder... This is the lonely man's room and Atkins when he is working is a lonely man. 'Can't take my time in the studio. We're making money there and when you are making money you can't really take your time.' Here he can retire for days on end to be handed an occasional sandwich through the door by his wife Leona, but here to stay with his guitar, and his sound."^[2]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[3]

Allmusic critic Greg Adams wrote in his review that Atkins' "elaxed fingerpicking works the material into a smooth consistency that sometimes belies the complexity of his technique, but the album is an engaging listen and an effortless-sounding intersection of diverse styles."^[3]

Reissues

• In 2002, Classic Compact Disc (Disc 2103) released Chet Atkins' Workshop along with Mister Guitar on one compact disc.

Track listing

Side one

1. "Lambeth Walk" (Douglas Furber, Noel Gay) – 2:45
2. "A Summer Place" (Max Steiner) – 2:04
3. "Whispering" (Richard Coburn, Vincent Rose, John Schoenberger) – 2:04
4. "In a Little Spanish Town" (Sam Lewis, Mabel Wayne, Joseph Young) – 2:11
5. "Sleep" (E. Lebleg) – 2:15
6. "Marie" (Irving Berlin) – 2:12

Side two

1. "Hot Mocking Bird" – 2:07
2. "Lullaby of Birdland" (George Shearing, George David Weiss) – 2:04
3. "Tammy" (Jay Livingston, Ray Evans) – 1:55
4. "Goofus" (William Harold, Gus Kahn, Wayne King) – 2:31
5. "Bonita" (James Rich) – 2:46
6. "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" (Livingston, Evans) – 2:07

Personnel

• Chet Atkins – guitar

Production Notes

• Produced by Chet Atkins
• Engineered by Bill Porter

References

1. ^ Atkins, Chet and Cochran, Russ. (2003). "Me and My Guitars". Milwaukee. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 0-634-05565-8.
2. ^ Chet Atkins' Workshop, RCA Victor LSP-2232 liner notes. 1961. David Halberstam
3. ^ ^{a b} Adams, Greg. "Chet Atkins' Workshop > Review". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r91700. Retrieved January 31, 2011.