The Man

Relaxin’ With Atkins

When he wasn’t on tour, in the studio, practicing, or tinkering with his guitars, Chet Atkins somehow found time for hobbies other than his first love, music.

John Knowles Interview Changing the light bulbs on Music Row, with Chet Atkins
from Country Music Hall of Fame on Vimeo.

Chet Atkins kept this golf ball as a souvenir of a hole-in-one he shot in 1980.

Program for the Ninth Annual Chet Atkins Celebrity Invitational Golf Tournament

An avid golfer, Chet’s wife, Leona, holds one of her golf trophies.

Chet’s golf clubs with his cgp towel

Chet Atkins on the putting green

Gone golfing note from Chet Atkins

Chet Atkins in a reflective moment on the golf course

Chet Atkins’s Nikon Camera

Chet Atkins snapping photos

Chet Atkins was an avid ham radio operator

Chet Atkins at Home with Ham Radio from Country Music Hall of Fame on Vimeo.

Chet Atkins’s ham-radio call letters

Family Guy

While working as a staff guitarist at WLW–Cincinatti in 1945, Chet Atkins met and fell in love with Leona Johnson of the Johnson Sisters duo, another of the station’s acts. Chet and Leona married the next year, and stayed together for the rest of Chet’s life. Their daughter and only child, Merle, was born in 1947.

Chet Atkins and Leona Johnson at WLW-Cincinatti, c. 1945.

Leona and Chet Atkins in 1965.

Chet and Leona Atkins share a kiss.

Note from Chet Atkins to his wife, Leona, written in the 1950s.

Leona, Chet, and Merle Atkins, c. 1950.

Chet Atkins and his grandson Jonathan Russell.

Letter from Chet Atkins to his daughter Merle.

Chet and his mother, Ida Sharp Atkins.

Like father, like son... Chet Atkins and his dad, James Arley Atkins.

White House Memories

Between 1961 and 1995, Chet Atkins met and performed for six United States Presidents.

Chet Atkins with Presidents John F. Kennedy at the White House in June 1961. — Chet Atkins (far right) with President John F. Kennedy (center) at the White House in June 1961.

Chet Atkins with President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton

Letter from President Gerald R. Ford to Chet Atkins.

Letter to Chet Atkins from First Lady Rosalynn Carter

Letter to Chet Atkins from President Ronald Reagan who, like Chet, recovered from colon cancer.

Chet Atkins, Suzy Bogguss "This is the Beginning" 1995 from Country Music Hall of Fame on Vimeo.

Wings Over Nashville

In 1974, Paul and Linda McCartney and their band Wings recorded their hit single “Junior”s Farm” in Nashville. While in town, Paul recorded “Walking in the Park with Eloise,” a song written by his father, with Chet Atkins and pianist Floyd Cramer. It was released as a single that year under the name the Country Hams. These photos and letters document the friendship that developed between Chet and Leona Atkins and Paul and Linda McCartney.

Polaroid snapshot of Paul McCartney and Chet Atkins taken by Linda McCartney at Chet’s hosue.

Paul McCartney and Leona Atkins at Chet and Leona’s house.

Letter from Linda McCartney to Chet Atkins.

Letter from Chet Atkins to Paul and Linda after the McCartney’s 1974 visit.

Click to Zoom In — Letter from Chet Atkins to Paul and Linda after the McCartney’s 1974 visit.