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Chet AtkinsCompared to most of my recommendations for the holiday season, Christmas With Chet Atkins (1961) is a pretty tame record. But, if you appreciate the guitar artistry - or at least the craft - of Chet Atkins (read more), you'll understand why this is one of my Christmas favorites. Some background: As a staff producer and artist for RCA Nashville in the late 50's and 60's, Atkins helped pioneer a smooth, cosmopolitan approach that ultimately had a deeply deleterious effect on country music. This "Nashville Sound" (think Eddy Arnold or Jim Reeves) can be heard on Christmas With Chet Atkins as clearly as it could be in the late 60's and early 70's, when it came be known as "Countrypolitan" and ruled Nashville (think Glen Campbell or Charlie Rich).

That does little, however, to dampen my enthusiasm for this beautiful, gentle album. Whether bending his knee in reverence or dashing through the snow, Atkins always puts the song - and therefore the listener - first. Easy listening? Sure. Memorable? You betcha. Heart warming? Absolutely, and I'd recommend this for any Christmas party - hip or otherwise.

On the other hand, my favorites selections from Christmas With Chet Atkins gravitate strongly towards Atkins' more substantial moments - the solo acoustic numbers like "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" or the nudging, winking rendition of "Jingle Bell Rock" (featuring the Anita Kerr Singers) or the confidently jaunty "Jolly Old St. Nicholas," which NRBQ used as a model for their own arrangement. Either way - easy or hard - Chet's pitch perfect picking runs through the album like a finely-tuned Ford, and that kind of exactitude is a rare and precious thing.

Chet AtkinsIt's worth noting that Atkins recorded a fair number of non-LP Christmas tracks for RCA thoughout his long tenure at the label These included a couple of singles, "The Bells of St. Mary's" (1953), which he also recorded on his 1974 Superpickers LP, and "Christmas Carols" b/w "Jingle Bells" (1955), the b-side of which he recorded again on Christmas With Chet Atkins. He waxed also "Greensleeves" for his 1959 Chet Atkins In Hollywood LP, and then again in a superior, guitar-forward version for the album's 1961 reissue. Atkins also contributed "I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day" to RCA's 1962 Nashville Christmas Party collection. For many years, these songs would prove tough to come by, though all of them appear on Bear Family's insanely expensive boxed sets. That would change - but more on that in a moment.

More than 20 years after Christmas With Chet Atkins, Chet Atkins finally recorded a whole new Christmas album, East Tennessee Christmas (1983). By this point, he had become a venerated elder statesman, having been inducted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame in 1973. He even began appending the title "C.G.P." to his name (as in "certified guitar player"). But, Atkins had also become something of a has-been, and RCA, his home since 1947, dropped him from the label in 1982. This misfortune became a blessing, however, when Atkins signed to Columbia Records and produced a string of fun and adventurous albums that brought his music to a new audience and greatly enhanced his legacy. Sadly, East Tennessee Christmas, one of his very first records for his new label, is not one of those albums. Promisingly, though, the record kicks off with a nearly note-for-note remake of Atkins' playful 1961 arrangement of "Jingle Bell Rock," except that Chet's guitar lines are even more deft and sophisticated than before!

Chet AtkinsHowever, most of East Tennessee Christmas is absolutely slathered in sticky-sweet strings and bland vocal choruses that only serve obstruct the view of what we paid to see - a master at work with his instrument. The situation is exacerbated by Chet's habit of beginning many of the tracks solo or with a small combo - only to dash our hopes halfway through by trucking in the entire cast and crew of The Lawrence Welk Show for a maudlin finale. The last two tracks on the record ("Silent Night" and "Away In A Manger") begin as really lovely acoustic readings of timeless carols. In both cases, however, Chet uses a children's chorus - children! - to complete the arrangement, and the cloying result is maddening. Frankly, I wanted to scream.

Which is my way of saying, you've really got to admire Chet Atkins to enjoy this record. His earlier album, Christmas With Chet Atkins, has some dicey moments, but nothing to match this schmaltz-fest. A couple of tracks on East Tennessee Christmas, "White Christmas" and "The Christmas Song," add only strings to Chet and his group - that is, no chirpy, white-bread vocals - and are quite nice. Another, "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentleman," is just Chet and his guitar - and is resplendent. The rest of East Tennessee Christmas is unlistenable, a poor representation of an important artist, and a sure way to ruin your hipster's holiday.

Now, having said all that, our story comes to a very happy ending with the release of The Complete RCA Victor & Columbia Christmas Recordings (2019), a two-CD set from Real Gone Music. As advertised, it compiled every conceivable holiday-related track Chet Atkins ever recorded. Of course, that means it includes all of Christmas With Chet Atkins and East Tennessee Christmas, plus all those non-LP tracks mentioned above. Then it throws in a bunch I hadn't even thought of, such as "Winter Walkin'" from Guitar Country (1964) and Schubert's "Ave Maria" from Guitar Country (1967). It also includes nine tracks from 1976, when Atkins re-recorded most of Christmas With Chet Atkins for a reissue. (For the record, I prefer the originals. The 1976 arrangements are identical - uncannily so, in fact - but the 1961 masters have more punch.)

The Complete RCA Victor & Columbia Christmas Recordings is beautifully packaged, carefully annotated, and brilliantly mastered - never more obvious than on Christmas With Chet Atkins. That album had only ever been reissued on CD by Razor & Tie in 1997 (not counting unauthorized versions like Songs Of Christmas), and upon listening to the Complete remasters, it became obvious to me that RCA had given Razor & Tie a badly worn master tape. Independent of that fact, Complete RCA Victor & Columbia Christmas Recordings is among of the finest CD reissues I've ever purchased. But, to hear Christmas With Chet Atkins properly for the first time - that alone was worth the price.

Postscript

In 2023, Sony - the corporate behemoth that owns the RCA and Columbia masters - reissued the Real Gone package for streaming and download under the title Winter Walkin' - The Complete RCA and Columbia Christmas Recordings. The name changed a bit, but the track listing is identical, and they didn't bother to update the cover art. They even left the Real Gone Music catalog number - RGM-0945, in case you were curious. [top of page]

Albums Albums

SongsEssential Songs

  • Ave Maria (1967)
  • The Bells Of St. Mary's (1953)
  • The Bells Of St. Mary's (new version, 1973)
  • The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire) (1983)
  • God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen (1983)
  • Greensleeves (1961)
  • Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (1961)
  • I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day (1962)
  • Jingle Bell Rock (1961)
  • Jingle Bell Rock (new version, 1983)
  • Jingle Bells (1955)
  • Jolly Old Saint Nicholas (1961)
  • Medley: The Coventry Carol/God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (1961)
  • Silent Night (1961)
  • Silver Bells (1961)
  • White Christmas (1983)
  • Winter Walkin' (1964)

Further ListeningFurther Listening

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