Chet Atkins was an American guitarist known for helping to creat the Nashville sound of country music.
Atkins received 14 Grammy Awards and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He also received nine Country Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year awards. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. He has also been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
born in Luttrell, Tennessee, Atkins started playing the ukulele but when he was nine traded his brother an old pistol and some chores for a guitar.
Atkins didn’t classify his music as country, or pop but called it “American music.” He said “I just try and play things that give me chills, to express myself from the heart through my music.”
Atkins died of lung cancer in 2011. He was 77.