During this 2012 concert at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, four accomplished thumbpickers—Eddie Pennington, Freddie Russell, Joe Hudson, and Paul Mosely—salute Country Music Hall of Fame members Chet Atkins and Merle Travis, who helped popularize thumbstyle guitar playing in the 1940s and ’50s.

The guests (all of whom hail from Western Kentucky and the Muhlenberg County area) share how they were first influenced by Chet Atkins, but then discovered thumbstyle playing, which had been passed down from Muhlenberg County resident Kennedy Jones to Mose Rager, Merle Travis, Ike Everly, and others.

“It’s very important to not only play this style of music,” Pennington notes, “but you’ve got to know where it came from, what it’s all about, and you’ve got to go out and educate people about it too.”

The Muhlenberg County Thumbpickers perform songs including “Sweet Georgia Brown,” “Walk Right Back,” “Eight More Miles to Louisville,” “Sweet Bunch of Daisies,” “Moses Blues,” “Mystery Train,” “Texas Tornado,” “Nine Pound Hammer,” “Mr. Sandman,” “Jam Man,” “Wendy and Warm,” “Back Home in Indiana,” “Merle’s Dance,” “Cannonball Rag,” “John Henry,” and “I’ll See You in My Dreams.”

Presented in conjunction with the Museum’s exhibition “Chet Atkins: Certified Guitar Player” (August 12, 2011 through July 15, 2012).

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