The Essential Chet Atkins: The Columbia Years is a compilation recording by American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 guitarist Chet Atkins

Chet Atkins

Chester Burton Atkins , known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound, which expanded country's appeal to adult pop music fans as well.Atkins's picking style, inspired by Merle...

. The 15 tracks included here are from his recordings on the Columbia label from 1983 to the 1997. The tracks have all been digitally remastered.

There is more focus on Atkins' jazz-pop work here, but his country roots still crop up. His later collaborations with Mark Knopfler

Mark Knopfler

Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...

, Jerry Reed

Jerry Reed

Jerry Reed Hubbard , known professionally as Jerry Reed, was an American country music singer, innovative guitarist, songwriter, and actor who appeared in more than a dozen films...

, Suzy Bogguss

Suzy Bogguss

Susan Kay "Suzy" Bogguss is an American country music singer. In the 1980s and 90s she released one platinum and three gold albums and charted six top ten singles, winning the Academy of Country Music's award for Top New Female Vocalist and the Country Music Association's Horizon Award.After...

 and Tommy Emmanuel

Tommy Emmanuel

William Thomas "Tommy" Emmanuel AM is an Australian guitarist, best known for his complex fingerpicking style, energetic performances and the use of percussive effects on the guitar. In the May 2008 and 2010 issues of Guitar Player Magazine, he was named as "Best Acoustic Guitarist" in their...

 are represented here.

Track listing

1. "Bourree" (Bach
   Bạch
   Bạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...
   
   ) – 3:52
2. "Cosmic Square Dance" (Chet Atkins, Mark Knopfler, Paul Yandell) – 4:17
3. "Wobegon (The Way It Used to Be)" (Atkins) – 3:17
4. "Maybelle" (Atkins) – 3:10
5. "Dixie McGuire" (Tommy Emmanuel) – 3:53
6. "Jam Man" (Atkins) – 3:20
7. "Poor Boy Blues" (Paul Kennerley
   Paul Kennerley
   Paul Kennerley is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer working in the American contemporary country music industry. His works include the concept albums, White Mansions and The Legend of Jesse James...
   
   ) – 4:03
8. "Road to Gundaghi/Waltzing Matilda" (Traditional) – 3:03
9. "Sneakin' Around" (Kass) – 4:26
10. "Dream" (Mercer) – 4:37
11. "After You've Gone" (Creamer, Layton) – 3:32
12. "I'll See You in My Dreams
    I'll See You in My Dreams (song)
    "I'll See You in My Dreams" is a popular song.One of the most beloved and popular songs of its day, "I'll See You in My Dreams" was written by Isham Jones, with lyrics by Gus Kahn. The song was published in 1924...
    
    " (Isham Jones
    Isham Jones
    Isham Jones was a United States bandleader, saxophonist, bassist and songwriter.-Career:Jones was born in Coalton, Ohio, to a musical and mining family, and grew up in Saginaw, Michigan, where he started his first band...
    
    , Gus Kahn
    Gus Kahn
    Gustav Gerson Kahn was a musician, songwriter and lyricist.-Biography:Kahn was born in Koblenz, Germany in 1886. The family emigrated from there to the United States and moved to Chicago, Illinois in 1890...
    
    ) – 2:59
13. "Young Thing" (Atkins) – 3:13
14. "Imagine" (John Lennon
    John Lennon
    John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
    
    ) – 4:08
15. "So Soft, Your Goodbye" (Randy Goodrum
    Randy Goodrum
    Randy Goodrum is an American songwriter. Goodrum has written numerous popular songs, including Anne Murray's #1 hit "You Needed Me" and "Broken Hearted Me" , Michael Johnson's "Bluer Than Blue" , England Dan & John Ford Coley's "It's Sad to Belong" , Steve Perry's "Oh Sherrie" , DeBarge's "Who's...
    
    ) – 3:16

Personnel

• Chet Atkins – guitar
• Mark Knopfler
  Mark Knopfler
  Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a Scottish-born British guitarist, singer, songwriter, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter for the British rock band Dire Straits, which he co-founded in 1977...
  
   - guitar
• Jerry Reed
  Jerry Reed
  Jerry Reed Hubbard , known professionally as Jerry Reed, was an American country music singer, innovative guitarist, songwriter, and actor who appeared in more than a dozen films...
  
   - guitar
• Suzy Bogguss
  Suzy Bogguss
  Susan Kay "Suzy" Bogguss is an American country music singer. In the 1980s and 90s she released one platinum and three gold albums and charted six top ten singles, winning the Academy of Country Music's award for Top New Female Vocalist and the Country Music Association's Horizon Award.After...
  
   - vocals
• Paulinho Da Costa
  Paulinho Da Costa
  Paulinho da Costa is a Brazilian percussionist born in Rio de Janeiro, considered one of the most recorded musicians of modern times. Playing over two hundred percussion instruments, he has participated in thousands of recording sessions, Grammy Award-winning albums, hit songs, soundtracks, radio...
  
  – percussion
• Tommy Emmanuel - guitar