Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 3, 1994 TAG: 9409080036
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT MOORE THE WASHINGTON POST
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
After nearly 50 years in the business and 75 albums, the friends are easy to come by. The fingernails, however, take some work.
"I haven't been playing lately," he confided in a telephone interview. "I broke three of my fingernails and I'm waiting for them to grow out. When I've got to play, I put some of those press-on false nails on there and use those. And sometimes I take tennis balls - they're the right shape - and cut a little piece and stick it under the nail and glue it on. Then you can use finger picks, but I've never been able to do that very well. ...
"I wear a glove most of the wintertime to keep from breaking my nails; they break when they get cold. I did that long before Michael Jackson. I don't know where he got that idea, but I've been doing that for years."
The 70-year-old gloved one of country also has had his share of honors, with 11 Grammys, seven Country Music Association awards, a NARAS Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
He also designs guitars, produces records and was chief of RCA/Nashville label until 1981. Atkins plays the role of guitar hero on a one-hour Nashville Network special, "Read My Licks" (Wednesday at 8 p.m.).
The program, which takes its title from his current album and catchy single, features an 11-song set with accompaniment from country singer Suzy Bogguss, country singer and guitarist Steve Wariner, jazz guitarist Earl Klugh, rock guitarist Eric Johnson and master fiddler Johnny Gimble.
"I'm really not that country. I don't make records for the country market anymore because they don't play my records - the reporting stations don't," Atkins explained. "I get play on stations that don't report to the magazines. So I just make music, and they play it on jazz stations and on new-age stations and so on. But as far as I'm concerned, I have to kind of forget about country, although I do have a country aroma, I guess."
Atkins acknowledged that his music was always on the edge, but said country "kind of left me because they quit playing instrumentals. The playlist got smaller and smaller and they didn't have room for instrumentals anymore. And maybe I wasn't making anything that they wanted to play."
The man who pioneered the pop-flavored Nashville sound of the late `50s and `60s - including Elvis Presley's first sessions - has no trouble getting his peers to play his songs. He has worked for several years with author-humorist Garrison Keillor.
"He's one of my heroes," Atkins said. "I think he's the greatest thing that ever came down the creek." His duet partners have included Mark Knopfler, George Benson, Les Paul, Doc Watson, Jerry Reed and, on the chart-topping "Rhythm, Country and Blues" project, Alan Toussaint.
"I do try to play things that will encourage their admiration. I want to be admired by other musicians more than anyone else, more than the public," Atkins said. "Musicians know the difference. There's a little competitiveness there . . . "
by CNB