|
Additional info |
Mark Knopfler acquired this guitar circa 1990
when he and Chet Atkins stopped by Rudy’s Music Stop on 48th Street in New
York City one afternoon during the promotional tour for their 1990 album
Neck and Neck. Pensa snapped a
candid shot of
the finger-picking duo playing in the store on this intimate occasion.
Although the store had been closed to allow Mark and Chet to play in peace,
a prospective seller arrived with his grandfather’s guitar, prompting
proprietor Rudy Pensa to purchase the instrument quickly without even
opening the case in order to return swiftly to his guests. According to
Pensa, he opened the case when Mark and Chet stopped playing and was
astonished to find this 1967 Chet Atkins Country Gentleman - brand new and
never played. Rudy gifted the guitar to Mark that afternoon and he was the
first to ever play it. Knopfler used this Country Gentleman to record the
Hank Williams country ballad Alone and forsaken with Emmylou Harris
and his touring band for the 2001 Hank Williams tribute album Timeless.
See more pictures of this guitar
here,
here
and
here.
The Japanese magazine The
guitar featured a great article in 2001 listing all of Mark Knopfler's
guitars which he used on the Sailing to Philadelphia tour 2001. The
article featured seperate photos of each guitar, including this Chet Atkins
Country Gentleman.
The guitar can also be seen on another
photo in
that magazine; it's on the top row of guitars, fourth from the right.
During the to Philadelphia tour
2001, Guy Fletcher created a diary for the fans to share his day by day
experiences on the road. On 23rd April 2001, Richard Bennett wrote a piece
about
several guitars he used on that tour, one of them being this Chet Atkins Country Gentleman.
Click
here to read that small article to find out that this is actually Mark's
own guitar.
This guitar was auctioned at
Christie's
in London on 31st January 2024. It
was sold for 50.400 Pounds. |
