When You Wish Upon a Star - Chet Atkins

For this month's installment of When You Wish Upon a Star Week, I've posted a cover of the classic Pinocchio tune by a classic guitarist.

CHET ATKINS, also known as Mr. Guitar, began his career as a musician of the string variety by playing ukulele, fiddle and then guitar, all before he was ten years old.

He grew up playing the guitar through the 30s and 40s and started performing in 1946 as part of Red Foley's country dance band. His guitar playing soon became very popular and he signed a deal with Steve Sholes of RCA Records to start recording records.

In 1957, Steve Sholes got a bit too busy producing and promoting an artist called Elvis Presley. Sholes couldn't keep up with the other branches of the label so Sholes put Atkins in charge of his Nashville branch. This was the beginning of Atkins' long career as a record producer. Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Dolly Parton are just a few of the names Atkins brought to the label.

It was around that time that Atkins started designing his own line of electric guitars with Gretsch. Atkins' guitars were the number one reason Gretsch could compete with the big names like Fender and Gibson. The Chet Atkins Country Gentleman was used by many musicians including Elvis Presley.

Atkins retired in the 70s after becoming dissatisfied with the way new executives ran RCA and the new ways his guitars were being made. He signed with Columbia and started making guitars with Gibson.

This beautiful cover of When You Wish Upon a Star is from PICKIN' MY WAY, an LP released by RCA in 1970. It is the perfect example of the awesome abilities Atkins possessed.

When You Wish Upon a Star Chet Atkins 1970