The Chetboard

I wonder if anyone has ever (they're have to be Rainman!) counted how many tunes Chet released ?

I recall a few years back when I transferred my Chet archives to SD cards. It filled two cards. Whew! It was a major project and took me a loooooooooong time. Anyway, I remember counting between 900 and a thousand tunes. But to be fair, that included studio outtakes that he never released on record. Some were Chet's guitar before string tracks were added in. But we all know Chet was a perfectionist, and some material, in his mind and soul, was not up to snuff for public consumption. But I love those recordings, nevertheless.

Anyway, has anyone ever counted (0r even made a close estimate?)

I know there are tunes that probably should not be included in an official count, for instance when he was backing Jim Reeves, or Everly brothers or the early Elvis and Hank recordings.

The records he has backed are probably in the hundreds, I would guess.

But I'm wondering about his released recordings, to be specific.

So, and Rainmen among us?

In times past, the answer that question seems to have been answered by a few people from Europe who have made a very exhaustive list. Also, it wasn't that long ago that I learned that the high frequency of Chet's albums was mandated and he was expected to put out something like 4 albums each year. I was in heaven in those days and was very disappointed when things sort of "dried up" in the later years. All that time I though he had just been more enthusiastic in those early years than he was later. I sounds like he didn't have much of a choice. Someone here could maybe correct that but that was the impression I got.

Maybe Mark Reinhart knows, he's active on the board. He wrote the book Chet Atkins: The Greatest Songs of Mister Guitar which embodies 140 recordings. He did extensive research on Chet's work, so perhaps he did a count of the amount of recordings. It's nice to see he is active on the forum. Jean-luc is also known of documenting things, so perhaps he knows (Rande, you probably meant him ).

For sure, arriving at a count would be a major challenge. You have to decide your parameters, for sure. For instance, I believe the tunes he released with Hank Snow on 45's way before they did the duet album (spinning wheel and under the double eagle, if my old memory serves), well, do you count those? I know I would. Then there was a tune he recorded with. Boots Randolph on the "Country Boots" LP (Wildwood Flower).....and he recorded "Leaning on The Everlasting Arms" with gospel legend Carman. There are a bunch more I can think of if I try. And didn't he record an entire album with Suzy Bogus? Chet was ubiquitous. The countumg process gets gnarly.