Alice in Chains

The possibility of an Alice in Chains reunion finally ended on April 5th, 2002, when Layne Staley died in his condominium from an apparent lethal overdose of heroin and cocaine, exactly 8 years after the suicide of another icon of the grunge era, Nirvana's Kurt Cobain. He died of a brain tumor at his home in Nashville. Although Jerry Cantrell tried to stay in touch with him, and did want to keep the band together, it eventually seemed clear that Staley would never return, and Cantrell launched a solo career. Atkins received numerous awards, including 11 Grammy awards and 9 CMA Instrumentalist of the Year awards. Although the band never officially disbanded, Staley spiraled even deeper into a depression from which he would never recover in 1996, when his girlfriend died following a bacterial infection caused by drug use. Rarely leaving his Seattle condo, the frontman became incredibly reclusive. He did return to his country roots for albums he recorded with Mark Knopfler and Jerry Reed. Staley was in visibly poor health, but nonetheless the group gave an outstanding performance, including a stunning rendition of "Down in a Hole", and went to great lengths to rework much of their harder material to suit the acoustic nature of the show. While he was with Columbia, he showed his creativity and taste in jazz guitar.

The group made one final appearance, their first in three years, giving a last show in 1996 when they performed on MTV Unplugged. He left RCA in 1982 and signed with Columbia Records, for whom he produced an album in 1983. Ultimately, this would be the last official album that Alice in Chains produced - though they did write a few new songs after this release, including "Get Born Again", and "Fear the Voices", which can be located on the various compilations. By the end of the '70s, he was feeling stifled at RCA because they would not let him branch out into jazz. The group again didn't support the album with a tour, sparking further discussion about Staley's heroin addiction. His last major hit single came in 1969, and in the 1970s he worked mostly in trio with Homer and Jethro, and with Jethro (his brother-in-law) after Homer died. Once again evolving their sound (as all their releases have), and now relying more on melody and textured arrangements than their previous releases (some see the album as the child of Dirt and Jar of Flies), the record debuted at number one on the charts. When Sholes died in 1968, Atkins was promoted to vice president of RCA's country division.

In November of 1995, Alice in Chains returned with the release of a self-titled album, Alice in Chains, though most fans have taken to referring to the album as "Tripod", due both to a lack of labeling, and the image of a forlorn three-legged-dog which appears on the cover. He played at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1960 and at the White House in 1961. They later renamed themselves Mad Season, and released a single LP, Above. He continued to perform and produced many hits, some of which crossed over to the pop charts. The band stayed off the road for the remainder of their run, which once again fueled speculation about Staley's addiction. Nonetheless, Staley performed a few shows with Gacy Bunch, a "Grunge-Super-Group" side-project of his formed in 1995, which included Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready and Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin. When Steve Sholes left Nashville in 1957, he left Atkins in charge of the RCA's Nashville division. Despite the EP being written and recorded in a single miserable and alcohol-laden week, some critics hailed it as a mini-masterpiece. In addition to recording, Atkins designed guitar models that are still popular today for Gibson and Gretsch.

Slowly evolving from the alternative, progressive sound of the first track to more traditional ballads, the record seemed to pay respects to Cantrell's musical roots. Sandman," followed by "Silver Bell," which he did as a duet with Hank Snow. In striking contrast with "Dirt" - though still containing similar (but more understated) lyrics of self-blame and isolation - "Jar of Flies" consisted of well-developed acoustic pieces, complete with subtle string arrangements, fused perfectly with exclamation points of Cantrell's signature electric-guitar attack. His first hit was "Mr. 1 on album sales charts, making it the first EP release to ever do so. The next year he became a regular on the Grand Ole Opry. Released as an EP, but now widely considered to be of album caliber (and indeed, the design and length would indicate it as almost being that), "Jar of Flies" debuted at No. He became the studio guitarist for all of the RCA studio sessions in Nashville starting in 1949.

After seeing them perform at Lollapalooza in 1993, the alternative music scene braced itself for another hard, angry, loud release from the Seattle quartet, but when Jar of Flies hit shelves in January, 1994, it stunned fans and critics alike with its wholly uncharacteristic sound. After receiving the call from RCA, Atkins moved to Nashville and began recording there. We now know, beyond reasonable doubt, that for the most part these rumors were true. Steve Sholes, the director of country music at RCA, had been trying to locate him, but hadn't known where to find him. However, the lyrical content of the impenetrably dark record - which dealt mostly with isolation and addiction - stirred speculation that Layne Staley had fallen far into the depths of a serious heroin addiction. After working for radio stations in Richmond, Virginia, Springfield, Missouri, and Denver, Colorado, he came to the attention of RCA Victor. Dirt, packed with the group's patented heavy, distortion-drenched sound, was released in the fall of 1992, and was both a critical and a commercial success, going platinum by the end of the year. He made his first appearance at the Grand Ole Opry in 1946 supporting Red Foley and made his first recordings for Bullet the same year.

This helped build anticipation for Alice's next LP. After three years, he moved to a radio station in Cincinnatti, Ohio. After releasing a small, unexpected collection of purely acoustic compositions in the form of the Sap EP (including the sole appearance of Alice Mudgarden), the group received more exposure in 1992 when one of their new songs, "Would?", made an appearance on the soundtrack for Singles, a motion picture by filmmaker Cameron Crowe which revolved around the lives of a number of Seattle singles. He also worked with the Dixie Swingers. Supported by a tour that saw the band opening for Van Halen and Iggy Pop, "Facelift" would go on to achieve gold status by the close of the year. He became an accomplished guitarist while he was in high school and made his debut on the Bill Carlisle Show on WNOX in Knoxville, TN. The album spawned an unexpected hit with the crunchy and infectious "Man in the Box", the video for which went into regular rotation on MTV. He started out on the fiddle, but traded a pistol for a guitar when he was nine.

The title track became a moderate hit on metal-oriented radio, setting the stage for the release of the group's first full LP later that year, Facelift. Atkins was born in Luttrell, Tennessee, and grew up with his mother and siblings after the divorce of his parents. The group signed with Columbia Records in 1989, and in July of 1990 they issued the We Die Young EP. Atkins created, along with Owen Bradley, the Nashville sound. Staley met and was joined by guitarist and song-writer Jerry Cantrell in 1987, renaming the band Alice in Chains, and, along with two of Cantrell's friends, bassist Mike Starr and drummer Sean Kinney, they began writing original material and playing local Seattle clubs. Atkins produced records for Elvis Presley, Jim Reeves and Waylon Jennings to name a few. Unlike many of their peers, Alice in Chains' sound owed more to heavy metal than punk or 60s rock; what linked them to the grunge movement was their Seattle roots and introspective (and often somewhat morbid) lyrical concerns. His virtuoso picking style (he himself called it yakety) brought him a number of admirers both within and outside the country scene.

Alice in Chains, initially formed by lead singer Layne Staley (1967-2002) in the mid 1980s as Alice N Chains, was, along with Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, one of the most commercially successful bands to break out of the Seattle, Washington grunge scene. Chester Burton "Chet" Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001) was an influential country guitarist and record producer in country music. Download sample of "Rooster" from Dirt.