Album Review

by William Ruhlmann [allmusic.com]

After the commercial success of Chet Atkins' 12th 12" LP, Chet Atkins' Workshop, which peaked in the pop Top Ten in 1961, RCA Victor Records decided to turn the country guitarist into an easy listening bandleader a la Ray Conniff on his next release, The Most Popular Guitar. But that LP didn't come close to the sales of its predecessor, and after a holiday collection (Christmas With Chet Atkins) at the end of the year, RCA opted to let Atkins do what he wanted again. Hence, his 15th long-player, Down Home. The contrast from his previous secular release couldn't have been more dramatic. The scantily clad lass with the come-hither smile on the cover of The Most Popular Guitar was replaced by a front-porch-swing shot of Atkins himself, guitar in hand, a vintage car in the background, and a faithful dog at his feet. And the strings that dominated The Most Popular Guitar were replaced by Atkins' free-picking studio regulars, supporting him on a varied collection that never strayed far in the arrangements from an old-time country feeling, even when a saxophone intruded here and there. "Salty Dog Rag," the leadoff track, was not the kind of material you'd have heard on The Most Popular Guitar, but it was no doubt closer to Atkins' taste. The rest of the album, while mixing in a current movie theme ("Never on Sunday") and a swing era classic ("Tuxedo Junction"), kept doubling back to country styles. And -- what do you know? -- Down Home outpolled The Most Popular Guitar by 88 places in the Billboard LP charts, returning him to the Top 40, which seemed to indicate that when you let Atkins do what he liked, his fans probably would like it too.