By Brett Ratner Equally successful as a sideman, solo artist and even producer, Chet Atkins G.G.P. simultaneously earned distinction as a virtuoso player while defining the very sound associated with "Music City." All that talent didn't manifest itself out of the blue. It had to be cultivated somewhere, and Atkins recently paid tribute to that very place. The Chet Atkins CGP Country Music Festival was held September 21 and 22 on the grounds of the Mountain Hill Schoolhouse in Harris County, Georgia, located in the eastern part of the state between Columbus and La Grange. The proceeds of the concert, auction and raffle are intended to help preserve the school Chet attended, and the auditorium where he played his first pro gig. "I did it because they want to preserve the school, and I thought 'Well, maybe I could help out'", Atkins said. "I played a show there two years ago and raised $60,000. But they have to raise several hundred thousand dollars to get matching funds from the government. They needed more money, so I went down and helped out again, which started Chet Atkins days which they hope to have every year. Maybe they can make money from that and save the school." According to Atkins, preserving the school is important for the community and its local culture. "It's a sparsely-populated county. They don't have a library for nine miles and they don't have a community center," Atkins said. "That school houses the biggest auditorium in the county. So I thought it was worth saving." Atkins notes that he's not involved for personal gain, but for the pleasure of helping out a worthy cause. "They're going to dedicate the auditorium to me if they save it," Atkins said. "But I didn't expect all that and I'm not doing it for that. And the Chet Atkins Day, that was their idea too. But if it helps the cause, they certainly can use my name." As one would imagine, the school conjures up feelings of nostalgia for Atkins. "I moved there when I was 10 years old and went to high school two years there and lived about four or five miles away and played in the auditorium," Atkins said, adding that his favorite place to play was probably the last location you'd expect. "I played a lot in the boys bathroom because there was real good reverb in there, the guitar sounded well. The other guys would be there shooting craps for nickels or pennies and I'd be sitting on a bench playing guitar listening to how good it sounded." It didn't take long for Atkins to move out of the stall and onto the stage. "I played my first professional show in that auditorium," Atkins said, adding that it didn't go as smoothly as his shows go these days. "Some guys came up from Columbus from WRBL Radio and did a show and let me play with them. I was about 15 years old. It went all right. Becky Barfield, who was on the Grand Ole Opry years later, said 'Play me an intro' and I didn't know what that meant. I knew what introduction meant, but wasn't familiar with the contraction. I said 'What?' She said 'Intro!' I said 'What's that?' She said 'Introduction damnit!' So you learn that way. You get embarrassed but you learn." Atkins credits a lot of his early learning to the school's music teacher. "My dad was the music teacher," Atkins said. "He taught the rudiments of music there in the school. He taught all over there. We were close to Columbus, Georgia. He taught in Columbus and he directed a choir." While Chet is known primarily for his instrumental abilities, his dad had a different musical focus. "He taught voice and piano. But he played fiddle, guitar and piano a little bit," Atkins said. "But he was mainly a singer, an Irish Tenor-type singer." Fortunately for the guitar world, this never rubbed off on Chet. "I'd loved the guitar as long as I can remember," Atkins said. Like a guitarist today, Atkins spent his time learning to play the music of the day. In the '30s, "Have You Ever Been Lonely" and "Do You Ever Think Of Me" were the big hits, according to Chet. "The Wildwood Flower" could have been the 1930s equivalent of "Stairway To Heaven," in that everybody knew how to play it. Living where he was, Atkins was also exposed to people of different cultural backgrounds. These people gave him his education in blues, gospel and country. He says that his formal training enabled him to take advantage of this stylistic diversity. "Music education is very important," Atkins said. "Learning to read music was one of the greatest things that ever happened to me. I've never been very good at it, but I read well enough to learn most any song I want to learn. It's a real slow process, but I can do it. It gave me a lot more confidence." With the preservation of the Mountain Hill Schoolhouse, other residents of Harris County can gain that same confidence.