Appropriately enough, Nashville will honor two of the most recorded and most influential guitarists in American music history on April 5 when it pays tribute to Duane Eddy and Grady Martin during the centerpiece event of this year’s Chet Atkins Musician Days celebration.

Among those scheduled to take part in the Ryman Auditorium concert are John Fogerty, Willie Nelson, Peter Frampton, Nanci Griffith, Marty Stuart, Vince Gill, and Bonnie Bramlett, all of whom will be among the performers in the event, which is being billed as ”Witness History Three: The Twang Years.“ Fogerty will present Eddy with a Chettie Award, an honor previously given to Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and to Atkins, for whom the award has been named. The former leader of Creedence Clearwater Revival will also perform his own set and take part in a closing jam session.

Nelson and Stuart will host the segment toasting Chettie Award winner Grady Martin, one of Nashville’s most recorded and most distinctive studio guitarists. Nelson will perform as well, and he will pay homage to the many signature guitar licks Martin provided during the ’50s and ’60s.

Eddy is one of three Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Famers residing in the Nashville area (the others being Johnny Cash and the recently inducted Scotty Moore). A native of Corning, N.Y., the 61-year-old guitarist made his most famous music in Los Angeles in the late ’50s and early ’60s, but he has resided in Franklin since the 1980s. He’s best known for popularizing the raunchy, reverby ”twang“ guitar sound, identified as one of the most basic of rock guitar techniques. His instrumental ”Rebel Rouser“ is an early rock ’n’ roll classic, and he enjoyed a string of instrumental hits (”Peter Gunn,“ ”Shazam,“ ”Cannonball“) prior to the English invasion.

In recent years, Eddy’s instrumental sound has become popular on movie soundtracks, appearing in key scenes in Natural Born Killers and other films. In fact, when he performs at the Ryman event, he’ll be playing some selections with a 12-piece string section that will feature his soundtrack contributions to the John Travolta movie Broken Arrow.

Martin, 71, was among the most prominent Nashville studio guitarists from the 1950s through the 1970s. His guitar can be heard on classic hits by Marty Robbins, Lefty Frizzell, Ray Price, Webb Pierce, Patsy Cline, Brenda Lee, Don Gibson, Johnny Horton, Porter Wagoner, and Waylon Jennings, among hundreds of others. He also played on rock recordings by Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison, and Ronnie Hawkins, and later was recruited by such disparate artists as John Prine and Joan Baez.

”The beauty of this event is that each year it provides incredible surprises,“ says organizer Pino Squillace, who points out that at last year’s show, an ailing Johnny Cash surprised the crowd by walking out of the audience to join Kris Kristofferson onstage for a duet of ”Sunday Morning Coming Down.“ At the time, it was Cash’s first stage appearance in more than 18 months.

Tickets to the Ryman concert, which is part of the three-day Musician Days event, cost $28.50 or $78.50 for VIP seating. Tickets to a post-show reception cost $20. Proceeds go to the Chet Atkins Music Foundation, which provides funds for the music education of underprivileged children.

—Michael McCall

Rollin' on the river

Randy Newman, the Indigo Girls, the Allman Brothers Band, and Edwin McCain are among the 26 acts announced for the fourth annual Nashville River Stages music festival, to be held May 5-7 at Riverfront Park. Last year’s three-day fest drew record crowds and an enticing assortment of national, regional, and local acts ranging from Isaac Hayes and Hole to Joe Ely and Fair Verona. Thus far, the confirmed lineup includes MeShell Ndegéocello, BR5-49, Bryan Adams, Widespread Panic, the Blind Boys of Alabama, teen blues guitarist Shannon Curfman, ’70s low-riders War, and an ABBA tribute band called Bjorn Again.

It bears noting, though, that many of the coolest acts at last year’s fest weren’t announced until the last minute, and River Stages has a track record of mixing some hip and adventurous stuff in amongst the...well, the Bryan Adamses. We’d love to see River Stages go after the likes of Patti Smith, Tom Waits, or Beck—and why stop there? How about longtime Louis Prima bandleader Sam Butera, grungy bluesman T-Model Ford, teen hard-rockers The Donnas, country classicists Ray Price and Wanda Jackson, alt-country songstress Kelly Hogan, or Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén González, and any of the touring Buena Vista Social Club artists? As for local residents, our mouths would water at the prospect of Amy Rigby, Tracy Nelson, Josh Rouse, the Carter Administration, Hank Williams III, the Cherry Blossoms, Kool Daddy Fresh, Phil Lee, Sub-Method, Cigarette Break Revue, or the Rev. Asher Dudley filling out the festival lineup.

But if you like what you’ve heard so far, you might want to purchase a three-day pass for the event from its Web site, http://www.nashvilleriverstages.com, before 5 p.m. Friday. That gets you access to the entire fest for $25—which will be the cost of one day’s admission the day of the show. After Mar. 31, a three-day pass will go for $35, and advance single-day tickets will be $20 (although each day’s lineup hasn’t been announced yet). For more information, visit the Nashville River Stages Web site.

—Jim Ridley

New releases

Shane Theriot and Terry Radigan are Nashville players whose national profiles may soon be expanding, courtesy of new CD releases. While guitarist Theriot is well-known for his work as part of the Neville Brothers’ touring band, he seldom takes the spotlight onstage. He finally gets to step out on his new disc Highway 90 (Shose), which emphasizes driving funk and blues and features a huge list of guest stars, including Victor Wooten, Jo-El Sonnier, and Art Neville.

Theriot prefers crisp, aggressive numbers with inviting rhythms rather than complex statements. Wooten’s flashy bass accents the tasty remake of Quincy Jones’ ”The Street Beater,“ while Theriot blends Latin licks and blues on ”1321 N. Las Palmas“ and flickering jazz on ”Cabildo Breeze“ and ”Shiho.“ Sonnier’s accordion adds some Cajun flavor to ”Trashy,“ and ”Punch“ offers straight New Orleans soul.

Theriot wrote and arranged eight of the 11 songs, and his work shows that he’s both a crackling improviser and polished composer. He’s also the author of New Orleans Funk Guitar Styles, which is available from Warner Brothers Publications. Call 1-800-327-7643 for more details about the book, or pick up a copy of Highway 90 for an immediate showcase of his skills.

Songwriter/guitarist Radigan’s forthcoming Vanguard release Radigan is more of a vocal showcase. Her delivery has power and authority, and her tone and approach are sometimes animated, at other times bemused or ironic. The disc gets off to a dynamic start with ”My Love Is Real,“ segues into the torchy heartache number ”G-O-O-D-B-Y-E,“ and then continues with a blend of triumphant tunes and tales of woe. The best songs are all Radigan originals, and while her accompaniment on guitar at this point sounds more pointed than her solo work, she betrays enough potential to suggest she’ll eventually be a first-rate player as well as singer.

Though Radigan doesn’t exactly write commercial material, tracks like ”My Love Is Real“ and ”So What“ have enough rhythmic appeal to deserve radio play—assuming there are still stations out there playing tracks based on quality rather than marketing advice. But whether she lands a hit or not, Terry Radigan’s disc deserves a listen; it’s at least as emphatic and entertaining as the overly hyped current work from Tracy Chapman.

—Ron Wynn

Theriot wrote and arranged eight of the 11 songs, and his work shows that he’s both a crackling improviser and polished composer. He’s also the author of New Orleans Funk Guitar Styles, which is available from Warner Brothers Publications. Call 1-800-327-7643 for more details about the book, or pick up a copy of Highway 90 for an immediate showcase of his skills.

Songwriter/guitarist Radigan’s forthcoming Vanguard release Radigan is more of a vocal showcase. Her delivery has power and authority, and her tone and approach are sometimes animated, at other times bemused or ironic. The disc gets off to a dynamic start with ”My Love Is Real,“ segues into the torchy heartache number ”G-O-O-D-B-Y-E,“ and then continues with a blend of triumphant tunes and tales of woe. The best songs are all Radigan originals, and while her accompaniment on guitar at this point sounds more pointed than her solo work, she betrays enough potential to suggest she’ll eventually be a first-rate player as well as singer.

Though Radigan doesn’t exactly write commercial material, tracks like ”My Love Is Real“ and ”So What“ have enough rhythmic appeal to deserve radio play—assuming there are still stations out there playing tracks based on quality rather than marketing advice. But whether she lands a hit or not, Terry Radigan’s disc deserves a listen; it’s at least as emphatic and entertaining as the overly hyped current work from Tracy Chapman.

—Ron Wynn