Dean Manuel didn't appear on the studio sessions by his own choice. As Leo Jackson told me, he witnessed Jim trying to convince Dean to play on sessions and pointed out it would be extra money for him, but Manuel demurred and said that Floyd Cramer would do a better job.

Leo said that producer Chet Atkins made Dean nervous and he didn't like doing sessions for that reason. Interestingly, Dean played on a bunch of demo sessions not only for Reeves but other artists at Starday. Dean also was calm enough to appear with Jim on live TV. But there was something about Chet that unnerved Dean. "He didn't like the pressure," Leo commented.