Peanut Butter and Ketchup, and Chet Atkins and Don Mclean... Vincent

Carla and all:  With Carla's comment... I of course went straight to Wikipedia to learn more about Chet Atkins.  Incredibly enough, I found out that what I impishly said to Carla about Atkins "sleeping with his guitar"... was actually about as true as a "smart remark" like that could be.

Atkins was sickly as a child, and due to an asthma-like condition, had to move to Fortson, Georgia to live with his father.  He had such difficulty as a child getting to sleep... that he would actually sleep in a straight-backed chair to help his breathing.  His bio says that he would sit in the chair... playing his guitar late into the night... until he fell asleep... hugging his guitar while sitting upright in the chair... and that's how he would wake up in the morning.  Holding the guitar.

Maybe I am "psychic."  More likely "psychotic."  Or, prolly a bit of each.

Anywho... Carla, Chet Atkins ended up with FOURTEEN Grammy awards. Here is a link to his amazing bio on Wikipedia.  If you have an interest in music or guitar... I invite you to read it.

Nina:  So glad you enjoyed it.  It really is beautiful, and I need to play it again myself.  It's just one more sign of the cool things you find when you aren't really looking for anything.

Life can be just like that, as well.

Lou:  Glad you enjoyed it.  And yes... luck and success are good things.  Well, they often CAN be.  Sometimes, though, success can take you to places you really shouldn't be going.  <dorky, slightly philosophical smile>

Cathy:  Four guitars.  At one time I had three... an acoustic Gibson, an Ovation cutaway, and a Gibson 12 string.  Way back in the sixties and seventies I played guitar and sang, and actually led a group... at the "Folk Mass" at the local Catholic church.  It was actually the same church that had the school I taught in for eight of my nine years in teaching seventh and eighth grade.  That, my dear, is an entire story in itself.

Do you still play ?  Or are they just "in the closet" and you pick them up once in awhile.  What kinds of guitars are those four ?  I used to play a lot of finger-picking folk songs... from the artists popular back in the day.  Peter, Paul and Mary, Ian and Sylvia, Judy Collins, Rita Coolidge... and some DooWop ballads.  Loved the DooWop stuff.  With only four chords you could play hundreds and hundreds of songs.

Anna:  Actually, in reading Chet's bio from the link I included... he was "thrown off" many country shows because he was not "country enough."  He played a whole lot more than country, and really did not get as "country'ish" as the others did... when he actually played country-western music.

Yes, it is beautiful... I listened to it twice with I first heard it today, and listened to it a third time just a while ago.  And... if you read the comments... he actually DID fall asleep with his guitar in his hands.

Charles:  A nice gift to all of my nice readers and commentors.  You are quite welcome... glad you enjoyed.  And yes, of course, I have heard Josh Groban.  I like him as well... but there is just something more "pure" about listening to a solo guitar... especially when I know the words to the song, and can have them sailing through my mind while I am listening to an artist/magician like Chet Atkins.

I have never really been a "fan" of his... although I somehow knew that he was a great guitarist.  Just wasn't familiar with his stuff.  Now... having heard this... I think I need to spend an hour or two noodling around YouTube listening to whatever I can find.

Rebecca:  Yes, Chet Atkins, the Country Gentleman.  I only knew a little bit about him, but learned so much when I read his Wikipedia bio from the link I included about.  What a fabulous talent.  He passed away, as you said, almost ten years ago, now.

Sometimes when I listen to some of the music of "certain" artists who have passed... I just have a really difficult time listening... knowing they have passed away.  Only certain ones hit me that way.  Jim Croce, for one.  I just cannot listen to most of his stuff... without just sitting there... crying.  Time in a Bottle just destroys me.

Roy Orbison is the same.  I went to his last concert before he died.  I sat about fiften rows from the stage... just perfect center-stage seats.  Luckily, George Harrison I am kinda-sorta ok with.  I am SO glad he was part of the Travelling Wilburys.  With the five of them singing, and him in the middle of it all... I find I can enjoy him.  I am just so touchy-feely and sensitive to that stuff.  Both a blessing and a curse... in many ways.

Eric:  I know you have incredible and extensive musical background... so I know exactly what you mean.  It is such a shame that so much of today's "music" is such as it is.  Such a waste.

You have accomplished so much, my friend.  I admire you.  And... I am glad the incredibly talented Mr Atkins was able to charm you.