The Chetboard

This is probably not going to be a topic that will interest many people on the Chetboard,
but I must post it because it's the last thing I can do for someone who was like a musical
brother to me. Primarily, it's for Chetboard members in the Western Kentucky area, or
anyone who knew my friend.

His name is Richard Eugene Shelton. Around Owensboro, Kentucky, where he lived he was
simply Dickie Shelton. His family were music lovers and very early in his childhood he was
introduced to the thumbpicking style of Chet Atkins. At 59 years old when he passed, he
had never ventured very far from his first inspiration.

When he was 10 years old, his dad took him to Drakesboro, Kentucky to visit Mose Rager,
which was the first of many trips to visit Mose and take part in the picking festivities that
would take place. This continued for many years and one instance I remember so clearly.
Dickie had asked me to come with him the next time he went to Moses. I couldn't make it
that night and the next day Dickie called and said he heard the most incredible guitar player
he had ever come in contact with. He talked on and on about the guy and told me it was
going to make him have to re-think the way he was playing. I said who was this guy!? Dickie
said you may not have heard of him but you will sometime soon. His name is Lenny Breau.
Not very many people know this story because Dickie was very shy and modest and would
never in any way want people to think he was a braggart or a name-dropper.

Dickie was a fluid, clean thumbpicker. He had an ear second to none and as I mentioned
before, he was shy and modest. He would shrug off compliments but was so generous with
his positive comments to other players.

I want to post this on the Chetboard to honor my musical friend & brother and it's the perfect
place to do it as Dickie followed the tenets and style of the gentleman that this board is named
for.

Rest in Peace Dickie Shelton

I'm so sorry to hear about Dickie passing. I didn't realize he was in bad health. In May of 1974 Mose Rager invited me to go with him to the recording studio in Central City that evening, and Dickie was playing guitar for some singer making a record. He was a great player then. After the session he and Mose and I picked a few together. I saw Dickie the day Lenny and Odell came to Mose's house in 1976. Mose brought his Alvarez out that Chet had give him, and passed it to me first, then it went to Steve Rector, and then Dickie as we were waiting for Odell and Lenny to get there. The house was packed with great players, but Mose let us young guys have a shot at picking too. I wish more folks had got to hear and know Dickie as he was really talented on the guitar. Mose was real proud of him as they were distant cousins. Eddie P.

I did not know Dickie Shelton personally, and never got to meet him, but heard of his great guitar playing for years. Not long ago, when producing the reissue CD of Spider Rich's recordings ("Siesta", ER Productions, 2005), I finally got to hear him play.

When Spider got some musicians together to record a group of his compositions in 1993 in Henderson Kentucky, Dickie was the "engine" who made the session great. In his later years, Spider himself no longer played the guitar very much, but he could still compose, arrange and produce, as he did on that session. When you hear the guitar sounds on the opening bars of the Siesta CD, and say "Wow!", that's Dickie Shelton. He was one of the great Western Kentucky pickers, a part of the history, and it is sad to hear of his passing. Rest in peace.

Pat Kirtley