MUSIC / CHET ATKINS : Legendary Guitarist on a Roll at 68 : Anyone who stereotypes him as strictly a country-Western maverick doesn’t know the half of it.

In the pantheon of living guitar heroes, Chet Atkins occupies a friendly niche. So friendly, in fact, that you tend to forget just how important an experimentalist Atkins really has been in his 50 years in the business.

His clean, unpretentious finger style, with its broken chords and rolling phrases, doesn’t leap out and shake you up. He is a gentleman in a field of brash smart alecks.

But there is gold in them thar’ licks.

Anyone who stereotypes Atkins as strictly a country-Western maverick doesn’t know the half of it. Atkins, an ever-curious sort, has been weaving jazz, pop, and classical music into his work since long before the word fusion meant anything outside the world of science.

On a roll at age 68, Atkins walks softly and humbly, but carries a huge legacy. Last year’s album “Sneakin’ Around,” with Jerry Reed, won a Grammy this year, in addition to a Lifetime Achievement Grammy. Last year also saw the release of the two-CD package, “The RCA Years: 1947-1981,” with its retrospective panorama.

And when Atkins hits town for a show at the Ventura Theater tonight, there may be a historical reason to go: to catch him while you can.

“I don’t know how much longer I’ll be doing this,” the affable veteran said in a phone interview from his office in Nashville. “I may get something started here in Nashville and kinda’ get off the road. This may be my farewell appearance in those places.”

He paused, and then modified the statement. “This may be my first farewell tour,” he added, laughing.

Retirement isn’t in the cards for the long-haul guitar hero, is it?

“No,” he asserted. “As long as I’m physically able to perform, I’m sure I will. I’ve been everything I ever wanted to do,” Atkins continued, in a reflective mode.

“I never wanted to be a writer or a game show host or anything. I wanted to be a semi-well-known guitar player--that’s all I ever wanted. It’s enough doing that. You lay the guitar down for two days, and it doesn’t know you anymore.

“If I could remember all the stuff I learned, I’d be in great shape.”

Of course, Atkins has a lot more to remember than most musicians on the scene.

The saga goes back to the tiny Appalachian outpost of Lutrell, Tenn., where he was born Chester Burton Atkins. He began his lifelong love affair with the guitar as a kid.

“I spent most of my time trying to come up with something different,” he commented. “When you’re first starting out, people always want to compare you with somebody. I’d play a lick and somebody would say ‘Les Paul,’ or ‘George Barnes,’ or they’d say ‘Merle Travis.’

“So I spent a lot of time listening to accordion players and piano players, people like that,” he said. “I didn’t listen to guitar players a lot.”

Early on, Atkins’ musical diet extended beyond country. “My dad was a classical piano and voice teacher, so I grew up hearing that music. Then I heard a lot of religious and gospel music.

“And, I don’t know why country people did this, but they bought an awful lot of race records,” he added. “They’d buy Jimmy Rogers and the Carter Family, and then they’d buy Blind Lemon Jefferson and people like that, who sang about problems and deprivation, just like the country guys did. I grew up hearing that too.”

His healthy diversity of musical influences helped Atkins during his long tenure as a producer in the ‘50s and ‘60s.

As a producer, he worked with country artists and rock icons, including Elvis Presley and Roy Orbison.

Then comes the Atkins-ian humility: “A hell of a lot of guys were like me. I just happened to be lucky. I was the guy who they gave a chance, with a recording contract.”

Atkins is such a solid pillar in American music by now that we tend to forget he was a rebellious pioneer, who experimented with guitar effects and techniques long before they became popular.

“I came up with a lot of stuff back there,” Atkins remembered, “and if I hadn’t gotten busy being a record producer, I think I’d have come up with a lot more. When I got to producing records, my own records became secondary. . . . But they sold great, so I can’t complain.”

Les Paul was another hillbilly-turned-guitar hero and inventor, who actually played in a trio with Atkins’ older brother back in the ‘40s. Atkins finally connected up with Paul for two historic recordings for RCA in the mid-’70s.

The Atkins-Paul meeting was orchestrated by a mutual friend from a publishing company. “We got together in this hotel room and played and told stories for about 12 hours, and decided to do it,” Atkins recalled.

Working with other guitar players comes naturally to Atkins. “When I was raised up, they had jam sessions,” he said. “You’d get together two guitar players and swap choruses. It’s a great way to learn, to build up technique.”

One of the finest Atkins albums of recent vintage is “Neck and Neck,” produced in 1990 by and featuring Mark Knopfler.

As for a current work-in-progress, Atkins has been trying to get Knopfler as a guest, but the Dire Straits man has been busy working in the United Kingdom. Instead, Atkins may invite Eric Johnson, the dazzling country-jazz-rock guitarist from Austin, Texas, to play on it.

Despite his threats of saying goodby to the road, playing live is still an important part of making music for Atkins.

“I enjoy (live playing) more than anything,” he insisted. “It gets difficult to do, because I don’t like to travel that much. I’m hoping Nashville will become another Branson, and I can just perform in Nashville and not go out on the road anymore. Just have the fans come to us.”

Has the recent country craze trickled down to Atkins’ base of fans?

“Garth Brooks is the best thing that ever happened to the business,” Atkins said, but added that the new body of country fans are going for a younger, more visual image. “It used to be that people would hear a record and they didn’t know what the hell the guy looked like. The country people don’t pay much attention to me.

“I’ve always just been a musician, and I’ve sold to a different clientele.” And the country gentleman is quick to add, “I’m grateful for that.”

The feeling’s mutual.

* WHERE AND WHEN

Chet Atkins at the Ventura Theater on May 13, at 8 p.m. Tickets: $23.50.