Zero to 180 – Three Minute Magic

Discoveries of a Pop Music Archaeologist

Category: Chet Atkins

60s/70s rock +/- pop
Zeroto180

Buffy Sainte-Marie — 97 Men (Likely More) Don’t Call Her Honey

In 1963, Buffy Sainte-Marie had the courage to speak out against an undeclared war in which the United States had conscripted 16,000 troops to serve as “advisors,” and consequently, was banned from singing “The Universal Soldier” on US radio and TV until 1965. It is curious to see which countries

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"Juanita Jones"
Zeroto180

Juanita Jones — In The Driver’s Seat At ASCAP?

Billboard‘s special October 19, 1968 issue devoted to ‘The World of Country Music‘ includes a 2-page article by Bill Williams – “Ladies in the Driver’s Seat” – that highlights a number of Nashville’s powerful female executives who worked without fanfare behind the scenes within the country music industry. Williams devotes

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"Lost Highway"
Zeroto180

“Lost Highway”: Hank Williams + Chet Atkins & Friends

One other prominent (and tragic) artist from country music’s early years to get the cosmetic posthumous remix is Hank Williams, whose death in 1953 in no way stopped MGM from issuing new product for the marketplace (often multiple albums per year) through 1981 and beyond.  Hank Williams, for instance, was

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"In the Jailhouse Now #2"
Zeroto180

Jimmie Rodgers: First to Be Posthumously Produced?

Believe it or not, Sean Combs isn’t the first person to fashion new musical product from older material created by commercially viable artists who are no longer extant.  Far from it. Back in 1955, twenty-five years after Jimmie Rodgers‘ passing, RCA Victor convened an overdub recording session in Nashville with

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"Ranjana"
Zeroto180

“Ranjana”: West Meets East

Chet Atkins‘ 1967 RCA album, It’s a Guitar World, finds him on the back cover under the banner, “The International Guitar of Chet Atkins“: Producer Bob Ferguson writes the following about “Ranjana” in the album’s liner notes: [“Ranjana” and “January in Bombay“] are India’s attendants at this musical U.N. feast. 

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"Bye Bye Birdie"
Zeroto180

“Bye Bye Birdie”: Groovy Guitar & Organ Instrumental

Chet Atkins‘s guitar sounds mighty and majestic when propelled by the infectious, burbling rhythms of an unnamed organist in this treatment of “Bye Bye Birdie” from Chet’s 1963 album, Teen Scene — dig that groovy roller rink organ sound. Note the original album cover: Check out the new and improved

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