You could say Shane Adkins was handpicked for the honor.
Shane Adkins of Hazel Green doesn't need a radio, Pandora or Spotify, because he makes his own music.
"It's a really unique sound," Adkins said. "It's more of a full sound. You're kind of a self-contained band."
A one-man band with a little help from a little pick.
"I thought everybody played that way, because my dad played that way and Mose Rager played that way," Adkins said.
Adkins is talking about thumbpicking, or the practice of wearing a piece of plastic on your thumb so you can pick more guitar strings at once.
It's not your typical way of playing the guitar, but why wouldn't more guitarists play this way?
"I have no idea, I'll be honest with you," Adkins said with a laugh. "That's a good question."
Using a small piece of plastic, Adkins can make a big piece of music.
"You carry your own rhythm and bass with your thumb, and you play the lead with your fingers, and you can do different styles with it," Adkins said.
Adkins, an environmental technician at Marshall Space Flight Center, credits the inventor of thumbpicking, Mose Rager, for his skills. Rager taught Adkins the style as a boy, and it's a style that stuck with him his whole life.
"It's been good. I can't complain," Adkins said.
Recently, Adkins was inducted into the National Thumbpickers Hall of Fame.
You could say he was handpicked for the honor.
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