Week 33 #52Ancestors: Comedy

Mr. Guitar

Chet Atkins' 51st studio album and second Christmas album issued by Columbia Records in 1983

Given that I have yet to discover a comedian in my family tree (and no Frank Sutton of Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.is not related despite some who think he is), I decided to find someone from East Tennessee to feature. After discovering that this individual not only had roots to East Tennessee, I learned his 2^ndgreat-grandfather, Lewis Atkins, actually lived in Grainger County many years and married there in 1804 to a woman named Elizabeth Monroe.  I have a DNA match to an Atkins who descends from this line and it is none other than Chet Atkins (if you didn't notice the name already). 

Chet Burton Atkins photo source: Wikipedia

My dad had a love of many types of music and we spent a lot of time listening to his favorite artists and this man was one of my dad’s favorites. My sister said Dad would buy albums from Sears to save money on his music collection.  I still remember him removing the vinyl record from its sleeve and placing it on the turntable and thoroughly enjoying the music.  When my Uncle Doyle visited (dad's older brother), they would sit down with their guitars and strum along.  Dad just picked at the guitar but Doyle really knew how to play it.  Dad would be so excited to learn that he might possibly be related to Chet!

Chet was born in 1924 in Luttrell, Union, Tennessee near Clinch Mountain.  Luttrell only has a little over 1,000 residents.  He was a high school dropout who went onto make country music history creating the Nashville sound, receiving 14 Grammy awards, and nine Country Music Association awards for Instrumentalist of the Year (source: Wikipedia).  

Map showing Luttrell and surrounding towns

Apparently Chet had a love of rural humor (source: Country Music Humorists and Comedians by Loyal Jones) and country music comedy. According to this book, if a car backfired during one of his concerts, Chet would yell, “Shoot him in the legs. That coat belongs to me!” Another story told to his audience is about the purchase of bifocals and how he was observing a dog through them: “While I was admiring the big one, the little one peed on my shoe.”

Source: Chet Atkins photo shared on Twitter discussion

Chet Atkins died in 2001 and was eulogized by Garrison Keller on “A Prairie Home Companion,” sharing another humorous story:

This duck walk into a bar, umps up on the counter, and says, “You got any corn?”  The bartender says, “No, we don’t have any corn, and furthermore, we don’t serve ducks, so get out!”

The next day the duck comes back, jumps up on the counter and says, “You got any corn?”

The bartender says, “I told you we don’t have any corn, you flat-footed idiot, and ducks are not welcome here.  If you come back in here, I’m goin’ to nail your feet to the counter.”

The next, day the duck comes back in, says, “You got any nails?”

The bartender says, “No, I don’t have any nails.  This ain’t no hardware store.”

The duck says, “You got any corn?”