Neck and Neck

Neck and Neck is a collaborative album by Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler. It was released on October 9th, 1990 by Columbia Records.

The track "Poor Boy Blues" was released as a single. It won the 1991 Grammy for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. "So Soft Your Goodbye" won the Grammy for Best Country Instrumental Performance. Neck & Neck was again nominated for the 1992 Grammy for Best Country & Western Instrumental Performance.

Atkins originally recorded "Yakety Axe", a parody of Boots' Randolph's "Yakety Sax", on his 1965 album More of That Guitar Country. This new recording features lyrics and a new arrangement that were composed by Merle Travis. Atkins also previously recorded "I'll See You in My Dreams" on an album with Merle Travis.

Track listing

"Poor Boy Blues" (Paul Kennerley) – 4:03
"Sweet Dreams" (Don Gibson) – 3:25
"There'll Be Some Changes Made" (Billy Higgins, Benton Overstreet) – 6:28
Parody lyrics by Margaret Archer, Chet Atkins and Mark Knopfler
"Just One Time" (Gibson) – 4:12
"So Soft, Your Goodbye" (Randy Goodrum) – 3:18
"Yakety Axe" (Boots Randolph, James Rich) – 3:24
Lyrics by Merle Travis
"Tears" (Stéphane Grappelli, Django Reinhardt) – 3:54
"Tahitian Skies" (Ray Flacke) – 3:18
"I'll See You in My Dreams" (Isham Jones, Gus Kahn) – 2:58
"The Next Time I'm in Town" (Mark Knopfler) – 3:22

Personnel

Chet Atkins - guitar, vocals
Mark Knopfler - guitar, vocals
Floyd Cramer - piano
Guy Fletcher - bass, drums, bass, keyboards
Paul Franklin - dobro, steel guitar, pedabro
Vince Gill - vocals
Larrie Londin - drums
Mark O'Connor - fiddle, mandolin
Edgar Meyer - bass
Steve Wariner - guitar

Chart positions

Translation

The phrase "Neck and Neck" occurs as such in the following languages: English, Spanish, Italian, Norwegian (Bokmål), Polish.