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When talk turns to Blount County guitar champions, Palace Theater owner Steve Kaufman is probably foremost on a lot of folks’ minds.

But when it comes to picking, local boy Robert Anderson is no slouch.

Consider his pedigree: First place, International Thumb and Finger Style Guitar Champion in 2000 ... first place, Official State of Georgia Guitar Champion in 2003 and 2004 ... first place, Official State of Alabama Finger-Style Guitar Champion in 2004 ... first place, Smoky Mountain Fiddler’s Convention Finger-Style Guitar Class in 2006 ... and a lot more.

Anderson, however, isn’t one to brag and boast. He’s just grateful to be counted in a category that includes a great deal of Blount County talent.

“It’s good to know Maryville is getting a little recognition throughout the country and the world,” Anderson told The Daily Times this week. “Guys like Marvin Russell, Tommy Covington, Steve Kaufman — they’re all very talented pickers, and it’s great knowing that Maryville is getting put on the map a little bit in the music world.”

A fingerstyle guitarist by trade, Anderson — born in Maryville to Jesse and Edna Mae Anderson — got his first guitar when he was 8, from his sister Janie. About the same time, he heard Chet Atkins playing “Say It With Soul” on the radio, a song by a singer who would forever mark him.

Anderson taught himself to play, mimicking Atkins style, and in 1979 and ‘80, he’d become proficient enough to teach fingerstyle guitar at Covington Music Store in downtown Maryville. Shortly thereafter, however, Anderson put his guitar down for seven years, until joining up with the Southern gospel group The Joyful Sound, with whom he toured the Southeast until 1992.

It was at Broadway Sound in Knoxville, where he now works, that Anderson was invited to a jam session by a member of the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society. It took a few visits for Anderson to work up the nerve to play for the group, but when he did, he was encouraged to join.

In 1999, he came in second in the Home of the Legends International Thumb and Fingerstyle Guitar Contest in Kentucky, and a year later, he won first place in the thumb and fingerstyle class and the open division. A short time later, he met the family of his longtime idol, Atkins, and he was invited to Nashville to play for Atkins himself.

Tonight, Anderson will perform a concert put on by the Knoxville Guitar Society. And while it may seem daunting to beginners to even attempt reaching the heights of talent that Anderson has achieved, the man himself humbly reminds anyone who picks up a six-string that he’s self-taught.

“It just takes a lot of hard work and practice and patience,” he said. “I’ve had times on the guitar where I was frustrated and where I wasn’t playing at the level I wanted to, but I kept trying and struggling and getting smoother. When I first started playing, I had no idea there were contests you could get into. That came along 36 or 37 years into playing — people suggested told me I should enter, and I decided it couldn’t hurt and that it might look good on a resume.

“I entered and came in first. It was really nice and unexpected, and because I didn’t expect it, it was overwhelming to me. But even with all the awards, the most rewarding thing to me is seeing people smile when I’m playing a tune.”

The key to improvement, he added, is diversity — he keeps his repertoire filled with songs going back 100 years and more, and he works up gospel standards as well as his own songs.

“I’ll hear a phrase or something in my mind, and I can just capture a thought and build off of that thought,” he said of his songwriting. “Sometimes it comes really natural and easy, and other times I have to work a little harder at it. When it comes to playing, I depend on the techniques that I’ve learned through the years.

“With thumb and finger styles, you can use that for classical music, for folk music, for old country standards. I always go to my roots that I learned from and can play any tune out there. I can hear any song and pretty much play it immediately. I just listen for the melody, and if you know chords, you can play it. I go to the chords where the melody is and just pick out the notes.”

Tonight, he added, will be feature enjoyment both on and off the stage — because like he said, the satisfaction he gets from fan reaction is what drives him to continue playing and learning.

“I’m gonna give them my best, and they’ll have a relaxed evening of wonderful guitar music from all different genres,” he said. “It’s a great atmosphere, and I’ll try to play something for everybody.”