Americana Music Magazine – Bluegrass, Roots, Folk, Blues, and Old-Time
Don Cusic is about to release the first comprehensive biography of country icon Chet Atkins in June 2025. The book itself is twelve years in the making, an effort to fill a major gap in country music history by this professor and music historian from Belmont University in Nashville. Along with his academic qualifications, Don brings a life-long love of the music to this project.
“For some reason, I always liked country music,” Don remembers. “There was a plastic radio on top of the refrigerator, and in the morning it played country music, and then it played Mantovani strings or something, and at lunchtime it gave the farm report and played country, and at 3:00 it played rock & roll…I just absorbed all of that I guess.” He lists his primary personal musical influences as Hank Williams, Roger Miller and the Beatles.
After obtaining a journalism degree, Don first arrived in Nashville (in 1973), like so many before and after, as an aspiring songwriter. “I thought I was a guitar player—until I came to Nashville,” he says. He quickly pivoted to leverage his strength in writing, getting jobs as a staff PR writer for the CMA and at the trade publication Record Row, which, Don says, “…kind of got me into knowing the inside of the business…” Beyond the basic news, the magazine also provided a platform for freelance writing that Don took advantage of. “It evolved, writing the history,” he says. “I love the subject; and when you love the subject you kind of want to get to the roots of it.”
Over 25 Books
Don has gone on to author over 25 books, (including biographies of Merle Haggard, Roger Miller, Reba McEntire, Gene Autry and many others) as well as numerous articles and encyclopedia entries related to the history of American music, mostly related to country.
Don’s latest book is called Chet Atkins: Mr. Guitar. “There was no biography written about him, which is amazing,” Don says. “First of all, he’s a giant in the history of Nashville and country music. People sometimes ask, ‘How and why did you choose your subject?’ and really the subject chooses you a lot of times; and that’s what I felt with Chet.”
For Don, a primary reason to write about Chet Atkins was to help people understand just how important he was—largely “behind the scenes”—to the development of country music, as well as related genres like rock & roll. “It’s one of those things: They’ve heard the name but they don’t quite know where,” he observes.
“He was the most famous guitar player of the 20th century, particularly from the midpoint on,” Don states unequivocally. “He was synonymous with the guitar. He was everywhere.” Chet Atkins’ nearly inimitable guitar style marked him as a truly unique artist of the era, one who was largely self-taught and who played by ear. (Apparently on more than one occasion, when asked if he could read music, he said, “Not enough to hurt my playing.”) Don also notes his prolific output of over a hundred albums. “Back in those days, you recorded two or three albums a year.” However, Don’s mission was also to show how Atkins had a multifaceted impact.
Why Chet Atkins
“He was unique; there could not be a Chet Atkins today,” Don says, citing his positions as influential producer and industry-shaping executive, as well as beloved artist and instrumentalist. Among his producer credits were the early Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, along with rock acts like the Everly Brothers, and, according to Don, even an uncredited part in the making of Elvis Presley’s first hit. He went on to head up RCA in Nashville. “So you have a three-in-one package there,” Don says.
“He was in the right place at the right time,” he continues. “He was a major factor in the development of Music Row [Nashville’s famous neighborhood of music publishers, record labels and recording studios]… He was kind of Mr. Nashville, Mr. RCA and Mr. Guitar—all of those things, when he was active.”
In Don’s book, you’ll find out how Atkins progressed toward the fame that would help him leave his indelible mark on country music, from his early days in East Tennessee, to growing up and developing his guitar playing in Columbus, Georgia, to his first music industry job on the radio in Knoxville, to his association with the Carter family, which proved to be his “big break” and his introduction to the Nashville scene. Soon songs like “Country Gentleman” and “Mr. Sandman” unveiled the “Chet Atkins style” to a wider audience. He also became an endorsing player of Gretsch guitars, with the company putting a lot of effort into promoting him as such. (“You know,” notes Don, “when the Beatles first played on The Ed Sullivan Show, George Harrison was playing a Chet Atkins guitar.”)
Ultimately though, it all comes back to the music itself. When asked about any surprising discoveries made while researching the book, Don mentions that, unlike other established players who, after years of hard work, tend to just play when called upon, Chet Atkins never stopped “woodshedding” on a daily basis. Don says, “He always found time to practice guitar, even in his busy studio days, as a producer and executive.” Mr. Guitar, indeed.