The Chetboard

Things you find out as you do research for a writing project (thanks, Barry)

You may remember a couple of years ago there was a board flap about whether or not Chet had had his D’Angelico repaired prior to going with Gretsch.

In a fan club letter dated April 6, 1953 (the year it got broken) Chet writes some odds and ends and near the end he wrote”

Jerry Byrd and myself spent a week in New York a couple of weeks ago. We did some terrific records with Homer and Jethro, Lone Pine and Betty Cody and I did a few, I recorded some tunes for single release and an album which will be released some time this fall. Oh yes, I left my guitar up there to be repaired. So if I sound worse than usual to some of you, don't blame me. Blame this strange guitar that I am using
(no mention of Lenny. Probably too young)

There are pictures taken in 1954 of him using the D’Angelico. And, besides, he mentions Ray Butts “fixing’ the out of phase harness he had in that guitar and he didn’t even meet Ray until 1954 so the guitar had to be functioning for Ray to fix it.

Norm quoted, "Jerry Byrd and myself spent a week in New York a couple of weeks ago. We did some terrific records with Homer and Jethro, Lone Pine and Betty Cody and I did a few, I recorded some tunes for single release and an album which will be released some time this fall. Oh yes, I left my guitar up there to be repaired. So if I sound worse than usual to some of you, don't blame me. Blame this strange guitar that I am using".

That would be the New York City recording sessions on March 18 and 20, 1953, featuring "Chet Atkins and his Galloping Guitar". Chet and Grady Martin on guitars, Jerry Byrd, steel guitar, C. R. Crean, bass, and Phil Kraus, drums, on the 18th, and Chet and Homer on guitars, Jethro, mandolin and C. R. Crean on bass on the 20th.

These songs were recorded: "Oh By Jingo", "Hello Ma Baby" and "The Bells of St. Mary´s" on the 18th, and "Country Gentleman", "Memphis Blues", "Alice Blue Gown" and "Twelfth Street Rag" on the 20th, "some terrific records" indeed. Information from the CD collection "Chet Atkins - The Early Years 1952 - 1954", JSP Records 2007. The pamphlet doesn´t mention Lone Pine or Betty Cody.

Thanks, Vidar...

I'll add that to The Project manuscript.

Glad to contribute. Your post made me play that 5 CD collection once more. Chet did really sparkle on those old recordings. At the time they must have been regarded as quite sensational.

"So if I sound worse than usual" haha! Great line and a great find!

Barry Oliver had an actual copy of the fan club letter that he scanned for me. He saw Chet on a few occasions when he was a teenager. He got to go see Chet when Margaret Fields ran the fan club. There aren't many of us who can say they saw the D'Angelico played live.

He did.

Hi Norm,
Don't forget about the old fan club newsletter data base that Al Baggetta has:

http://208.68.104.115/baggetta/ChetAtkins/Gallopin%20Guitar%20News/GallopinGuitarNews.htm

Norm,
I'll have to gather you the information about the Peaver guitar that Paul built for Chet. I wrote a article about it that was published in "Mister Guitar" a while back. Unfortunately I lost many of the emails that I had from Paul due to a hard drive crash quite a while back. ( Yeah, I know, should have backed that stuff up). I do have some of the more recent ones that I have on my Gmail online email. I did save all my emails in a notebook that Paul wrote me about the Peaver.
It will probably take me a while to get back with you. I've been busy lately.