Todays Tune: Chet Atkins - The Entertainer (Scott Joplin)

Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), better known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist & record producer who created, along with Owen Bradley, the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.

His picking style, inspired by Merle Travis, Django Reinhardt, George Barnes & Les Paul, brought him admirers within & outside the country scene, both in the United States & internationally. Atkins produced records for Perry Como, Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Eddy Arnold, Don Gibson, Jim Reeves, Jerry Reed, Skeeter Davis, Connie Smith, Waylon Jennings & others.

Among lots of honors, Atkins received 14 Grammy Awards as well as the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, nine Country Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year awards, & was inducted in to the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum.