Chet Atkins Birthplace — Luttrell, Tennessee

Chester Burton Atkins was born on June 20, 1924, in Luttrell, Tennessee, in the Clinch Mountain foothills of Union County — Appalachian country, far removed from the Nashville music industry he would come to dominate. He taught himself guitar in part to drown out the sound of his parents fighting, and developed a distinctive fingerpicking style — his thumb handling the bass lines while his fingers played the melody — that became one of the most imitated techniques in country and popular music.

Atkins moved to Nashville in the late 1940s and eventually became head of RCA Victor's Nashville division, where he developed the "Nashville Sound" — a smoother, more polished approach to country music that incorporated string sections and background vocals and made the genre palatable to mainstream pop audiences. He produced records for Elvis Presley, Jim Reeves, Don Gibson, Eddy Arnold, and dozens of others. As a guitarist, his recordings and collaborations with players from Merle Travis to Jerry Reed to Mark Knopfler established him as one of the instrument's true masters.

Luttrell and Union County recognise Atkins with historical markers. The Chet Atkins Collection at the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville holds guitars, recordings, and memorabilia from his career. He died in Nashville on June 30, 2001, from cancer, and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame twice — once as a performer and once as a musician.