‘Mr. Guitar’ Returns to Country Sound

Master guitarist Chet Atkins figures he’s due for a new image.

The 66-year-old, soft-spoken music legend may start emulating certain rock stars by wearing leather and heavy makeup. “Nobody wants you when you just play guitar,” he laments.

But he’s not serious. He’s just joking around with Dire Straits’ guitarist Mark Knopfler, his special guest on the new album “Neck and Neck.”

Atkins hardly needs any special strategy at this stage of his career.

He’s already earned the title “Mr. Guitar” during his 45 years as an instrumentalist. He’s recorded more than 75 albums and sold in excess of 30 million records.

However, on “Neck and Neck,” Atkins returns to the country-music style he helped popularize. Even the presence of a rock ‘n’ roller such as Knopfler, the producer of the album, can’t hide the country feel to it.

“I’ve been making so-called jazz albums for the past three or four years,” Atkins said.

“So in this album, we got away from that and got back to more country-sounding things for the most part. Mark thought I was going in the wrong direction lately.”

“I think it will appeal to a lot of people around the world where Mark’s fans are,” Atkins said. “I don’t know yet how it will be accepted in this country. There seems to be a great deal of conformity in this country where they play the same things.”

Atkins, who has won eight Grammy awards, says he keeps doing albums in an eternal quest for perfection.

“I never have gotten it right,” he says modestly about his playing. “I keep trying to improve and get it the way I want it and keep out the mediocrity and conformity.

“I never listen to my records. I hope I never get so I love to listen to myself. I think that’s one of the reasons I’ve been around so long, because I don’t like the way I’m doing. I keep changing and playing a few new things so that I haven’t become entirely predictable to the average person out there.”

Atkins is renowned among musicians for refining the thumb-and-finger picking technique in which the thumb plays the bass notes and keeps time while the fingers play the melody lines.