Julian
Smith |
Occasionally, a new guitar player will appear from out of nowhere and catch the attention of the guitar community. One such guitarist is Julian Smith from rural west Georgia. For those that have had the pleasure of hearing him play, the experience has been memorable. Julian has a special touch on the guitar that delivers smoothness and clarity with every note, indicating he has spent many practice hours with the "Master", Chet Atkins. Julian began playing guitar at age eight after hearing Chet on the radio. (See the story, "When I Met Chet" at MisterGuitar.com.) He says, "from that moment on, I never really wanted to play anything but Chet's style." Julian's story is so typical of Chet's disciples, that is, buy every Chet Atkins' record, then spend a life time trying to figure out how to play Chet's style. He not only has figured it out, but has added his own signature to the songs he performs. His first and only paid guitar lesson was from a traveling instructor in grade school, learning first position "D" at a cost of 50 cents. His father played guitar similar to Jimmie Rodgers and thus showed Julian the other major chords. From that simple beginning, he is self taught, using only Chet's records and lots of determination, without instruction books, sheet music or tab. After joining the newly formed Georgia Fingerstyle Guitar Association in 1997, new opportunities developed for Julian. He attended the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society (CAAS) convention for the first time in July1998 and played in the Belmont Club Room. Julian says, "People kept coming up to me afterwards saying how much they enjoyed my playing. I am thrilled that others share a love for Chet and his music as I do." In August 1998, at the persistence of friends, Julian entered the "Home Of The Legends" International Thumbpicking Contest in Muhlenburg County, Kentucky and won first place in both the Thumbpicking and the Freestyle Class contests. He was presented with two Taylor 310-CE guitars. When Julian played at the Merle Travis Birthday celebration in Central City, Kentucky, Paul Yandell surprised him by requesting they play a tune together. Paul has this to say, "I think Julian is one of the best players around today. Unlike some guitar pickers on the scene, he is humble to a fault. He is respected by all his friends and he is one of my favorites." Julian has been featured twice in articles on the Taylor Guitars website. He can also be heard as a featured guitarist accompanying Maxine Cummins on the song Dream A Little Dream from her CD Georgia On My Mind
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