orig. Chester Burton Atkins
born June 20, 1924, Luttrell, Tenn., U.S.
died June 30, 2001, Nashville, Tenn.
U.S. guitarist and record company executive.
Atkins began his musical career as a fiddler in the early 1940s, but it was his signature style of playing guitar (bass rhythm played with thumb, melody picked with three fingers) that brought him worldwide acclaim. In the early 1950s he began playing electric guitar, pioneering its use in country music. As an RCA Records executive, he produced hit recordings for Elvis Presley , Jim Reeves, and Waylon Jennings.