When I First Heard Chet

John "Bigfingers" Vorasky - Mayfield Heights, OH

I guess it was somewhere in the 40's, used to lie down next to the old Philco console, & on a good night we could get WCKY from Cincinnati real good. I can still remember Mac Wiseman singing "Sweeter Than The Flowers" & "Tis sweet To Be Remembered". I remember Wayne Rainey & Lonnie Glosson singing "If You've Got The Money Honey" & the harmonica instrumental where they sounded like "hound" dogs on a chase! Ah! sweet memories, Sons Of The Pioneers singing "Sweet Evalina", Floyd Tillman singing "I Love You So Much It Hurts Me", & of course, the Hank Williams radio show.

One night I happened to hear this instumental version of "Indian Love Call" (before Slim Whitman!!"). It was a sound I'd never heard & it was by a young guitar player named Chet Atkins. I kept tuning in & then one night I heard Chet play "Steel Guitar Rag". I actually thought he was paying steel guitar as I'd never heard anything like it until a few years later when the local radio station hired a DJ named Blackie Bennett who I got to see play this song in the hallway of the station. Couldn't believe it, one man making a guitar sound like a 3 piece band!!

I was rhythm player in a local band, & whoever thought anyone could play like this!! Chet has been the biggest musical influence in my life, & I hope and pray that he's around for a long time to come!!