The Essential Chet Atkins [Legacy] (2007)

About this title: Chet Atkins is more esteemed as a session musician and producer than as a solo artist, and critics have rightly noted that much of his immense catalog as a solo artist is unimpressive. It might thus be assumed that it would be difficult to pick a two-CD, 40-track career-spanning retrospective that would both represent much of his finest solo output and appeal to the general listener, not just the country music scholar. Happily, this set manages the difficult feat of doing exactly that, owing to intelligent selection of a wide cross-section of tracks, going all the way back to a 1946 single by ... read more

Tracks:

1. Guitar Blues (Pickin' the Blues) [Atkins]
2. Bug Dance [Atkins]
3. Dizzy Strings [Atkins]
4. Centipede Boogie [Atkins]
5. Mainstreet Breakdown [Atkins]
6. Root, Hog or Die [Carter/Foree]
7. Jitterbug Waltz [Waller]
8. The Third Man Theme [Karas]
9. Black Mountain Rag [Magness]
10. Country Gentleman [Atkins/Bryant]
11. City Slicker [Atkins]
12. Mister Sandman [Ballard]
13. The Poor People of Paris (Jean's Song) [Monnot]
14. Big D [Loesser]
15. Trambone [Atkins]
16. Should We Tell Him [Everly/Everly]
17. Hidden Charm [Rich]
18. Oh Lonesome Me [Gibson]
19. I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles [Brockman/Kellette]
20. Slinkey [Atkins]
21. Boo Boo Stick Beat [Harman/Loudermilk]
22. Hot Mocking Bird
23. The Slop [Cogswell]
24. Man of Mystery [Carr]
25. Wheels [Petty]
26. Teen Scene [Atkins/Reed]
27. Freight Train [James/Williams]
28. Satan's Doll [Smith]
29. Yakety Axe [Randolph/Rich]
30. A Taste of Honey [Scott/Marlow]
31. Drive In [Reed]
32. Get on with It [Reed/Atkins]
33. Cannonball Rag [Travis]
34. Take Five [Desmond]
35. Is Anything Better Than This [Silverstein]
36. It's Been a Long, Long Time [Cahn/Styne]
37. Polka Dots and Moonbeams [Burke/VanHeusen]
38. Poor Boy Blues [Kennerly]
39. Sneakin' Around [Kass]
40. Big Foot [Atkins]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.