10 YEARS WITHOUT CHASING TRENDS — AND NASHVILLE LEARNED TO MOVE AT CHET ATKINS’ SPEED While country music flirted with pop polish in the late ’50s and early ’60s, Chet Atkins never adjusted his stride. He didn’t rush his playing. He didn’t thicken the sound to please radio. He didn’t chase what was selling that month. And something unexpected happened. Nashville slowed down. In rooms where producers once pushed tempos and stacked instruments, sessions began to breathe again. Songs stopped trying to impress. They tried to last. Chet sat quietly, guitar balanced on his knee, letting space do half the work. No drama. No trends. Just control. One engineer later said the city learned restraint because of Chet — not through lectures, but through example. When he played fewer notes, everyone else played fewer notes too. When he left silence untouched, the song felt stronger. For a full decade, the industry leaned forward. Chet leaned back. And Nashville adjusted its pace to match him.
10 YEARS WITHOUT CHASING TRENDS — AND NASHVILLE LEARNED TO MOVE AT CHET ATKINS’ SPEED By the late 1950s, Nashville…