Tommy Emmanuel
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Tommy Emmanuel
| For The Record... |
| Born William Thomas Emmanuel on May 31, 1955, at Muswellbrook, New SouthWales, Australia; married, wife's name Jane; children: Amanda. Started playing guitar at age four; played jazz, rock, bluegrass, country, and classical; inspired by American guitarists Chet Atkins and Hank B. Marvin; released Endless Road, 2002; released The Mystery, 2006. Awards: Juke Magazine, Australia's Best Guitarist, 1986, 1987, and 1988; Bi-Centennial Music Week, Studio Musician of the Year, 1988; recipient of numerous Rolling Stone awards, including Most Popular Guitarist, 1989 and 1990, and Best Guitarist,1991 through 1994; Australian Adult Contemporary Record of the Year, for Determination, 1991, and for The Journey, 1993. Addresses: Official fan club—P.O. Box 1019, Hampton North, Victoria 3188, Australia. Website—Tommy Emmanuel Official Website: http://www.tommyemmanuel.aust.com. |
Instrumentalist
Tommy Emmanuel, one of Australia's foremost instrumentalists, stated in an Epic Records press release: "To me, music is something that is beautiful and positive. If I can pass that torch on to others, then I'm happy." This extraordinary guitarist has gained world renown and is already considered a legend. "To say I'm blessed would be an understatement," he stated in his biography on the Sony Music Artist Info website. "Half the time I'm waiting for someone to pinch me and wake me up from this dream."
William Tommy Emmanuel was born on May 31, 1955, at Muswellbrook, New South Wales, Australia, and grew up with five siblings: Chris, Virginia, Phil, Darcy, and Veronica. Emmanuel first started playing guitar at the age of four. The first tune that he learned was Arthur Smith's "Guitar Boogie." In 1960 he started his first band, called The Emmanuel Quartet. It was a family affair, with Tommy on rhythm guitar, Phil on lead guitar, Chris on drums, and Virginia on Hawaiian steel guitar. As a young boy, Tommy practiced an average of 16 hours a day, sometimes in pubs. Early in his career, his ambition became became evident.
Throughout his career, Emmanuel has worked with many highly admired artists in the music industry and has composed and arranged many successful songs. His musical versatility is evident in the different types of musical styles he has played, including jazz, rock and roll, bluegrass, country, and even classical. In his online biography, Emmanuel commented, "I have roots in all sorts of different styles of music, and I'm able to draw on all of that. At the end of the day, the thing that pulls it all together is my sense of melody."
Emmanuel was inspired by the great American guitarists Chet Atkins and Hank B. Marvin of The Shadows, the fabled instrumental backing group for 1960s British pop sensation Cliff Richard and a respected recording unit in their own right. Later on in Emmanuel's career, he and Atkins turned out to be a successful pair that often performed together. John Anderson from Newsday stated, "Emmanuel professes a lifelong passion for Atkins' playing, and he obviously has studied it, because it's hard to tell where the teacher stops and the student starts. They play seamlessly, with a great deal of humor."
Another strong influence in Emmanuel's successful career has been the Maton Guitar, made by the Maton Company in Melbourne, Australia. The model MS500 solid body was Emmanuel's first Maton, and he started playing it at the age of six. It is his instrument of choice and he owns about eight of them. In June of 1988, he was playing a Takamine guitar. At that time, the owner of the company approached him and asked if they could develop a model that met his high playing standards. Emmanuel agreed and the company soon produced the T/E Artist & Signature guitar. This model features Emmanuel's signature engraved into the fingerboard. It is estimated that over 500 have been made. Today, Emmanuel acts as a consultant to the company to ensure the guitar maintains its high degree of sound quality and playability.
The 1994 all-instrumental collection called The Journey was Emmanuel's first U.S. release. Guests on the album included Chet Atkins on guitar, Joe Walsh on guitar, Jerry Goodman on violin, and Dave Koz on saxophone. The Journey was produced by American guitarist Rick Neigher.
In 1995 Emmanuel's dream to play with an orchestra was made possible with the production of the album Classical Gas, which received widespread fame and went gold in Australia. Some of the album was recorded live outdoors with the Australian Philharmonic Orchestra, and some was recorded in a Melbourne studio with the same ensemble. Many of his best-known songs are on the album, including "The Journey," "Run a Good Race," "Who Dates Wins," and "Initiation."
Another album, Can't Get Enough (1996), brought out the excellence of Emmanuel's acoustic guitar work. Randy Goodrum, a Nashville keyboard player and songwriter, appeared on the album, which was recorded in Melbourne, Nashville, and Los Angeles and produced by Goodrum and Emmanuel. Richie Yorke in the Sunday Mail asserted, "On first hearing of the opening track … you'd swear you were listening to something new and fresh from Steely Dan. … Can't Get Enough has all the earmarks of an international hit at a point in musical history when traditional instrumentalists have been in short supply."
Emmanuel followed up the success of Can't Get Enough with a duet album with Chet Atkins, The Day the Finger Pickers Took Over the World (1997), and the 2001 release Only. The latter album was admired for the austerity of Emmanuel's fingerpicking guitar style. Rather than simply showboating his talent, he moved from one style to another, from folk-based songs such as "Timberlake Road" and "Train to Dusseldorf" to the lush romanticism of "Those Who Wait." Each of the 14 compositions on the album was written solely by Emmanuel. In 2002 Emmanuel released Endless Road, which was not issued in the United States until 2005. On the album he performed with Atkins on a composition titled "Chet's Ramble," which an All Music Guide critic unfavorably assessed as sounding like "an outtake from their 1997 duet album The Day the Finger Pickers Took Over the World." The same review generally panned Emmanel's talent as a singer, although it found much to praise about his particular rendition of the standard "Mona Lisa." In 2006 Emmanuel released The Mystery, which featured guest vocalist Elizabeth Watkins on the ballad "Footprints." He also issued a duet album with Jim Nichols, Happy Hour, in 2006. The album featured a cover of the classic Benny Goodman composition "Stompin' at the Savoy," and covers of "Nine Pound Hammer," "Who's Sorry Now," "Birth of the Blues" and "Lover Come Back to Me," as well as a version of Atkins's "Trambone."
Emmanuel's awards have included Australia's Best Guitarist in Juke Magazine for 1986, 1987, and 1988. He received the 1988 Studio Musician of the Year award in Bi-Centennial Music Week. He was the recipient of numerous Rolling Stone magazine awards between 1989 and 1994, and received the Australian Adult Contemporary Record of the Year in 1991 and 1993. He was named Australian Performer of the Year by the MO Awards in 1995 and 1997, and achieved gold record status for sales of Classical Gas. He and his wife, Jane, have a daughter named Amanda, and he still performs with his brother Phil.
Selected discography
From Out of Nowhere, 1979.
Dare to Be Different, Sony.
Initiation, Sony.
Up from Down Under, 1987.
No More Goodbyes, Sony.
Determination, Sony, 1991.
The Journey, Columbia, 1993.
The Journey Continues, 1994.
Terra Firma, Columbia, 1995.
Classical Gas, Sony, 1996.
Can't Get Enough, Sony, 1996.
Midnight Drive, Higher Octave, 1997.
(With Chet Atkins) The Day the Finger Pickers Took over the World, Sony, 1997.
Only, EMI, 2001.
Endless Road, Favored Nations Acoustic, 2004.
Live One, Original Works, 2005.
The Mystery, Favored Nations Acoustic, 2006.
(With Jim Nichols) Happy Hour, Original Works, 2006.
Sources
Periodicals
Billboard, July 8, 1995.
Newsday, April 13, 1997 p. C23.
The Tennessean, February 24, 1997.
Online
All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com (November 8, 2007).
Tommy Emmanuel Official Website, http://www.tommyemmanuel.aust.com. (November 8, 2007).
Sony Music USA, http://www.sonymusic.com (November 8, 2007).
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Tommy Emmanuel
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Tommy Emmanuel
- Genres: Jazz
Biography
Tommy Emmanuel, four-time winner of Australia's Best Guitarist award, has helped bring the art of rock guitar down under to a higher awareness over his two-decade-long career by bringing a sense of jazz improvisation into a mix that also includes blues, country, rock, classical, and Spanish music. After years as a popular sideman and ace songwriter, the two-time ARIA (Aussie Grammys equivalent) award winner launched his solo career in 1988 with Up from Down Under. Several releases have followed, most notably his critically acclaimed 1993 release The Journey, which hit high on Gavin and Radio & Records NAC airplay charts. He has shown a mastery and affinity for both electric and acoustic axes and has been singled out by the likes of notable musicians such as Chet Atkins, with whom he recorded The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World in 1997, and Todd Rundgren as being an innovator on the instrument. Only appeared in 2001, followed by 2002's Endless Road (it was finally released in the U.S. three years later), 2005's Live One, and 2006's Happy Hour (with Jim Nichols) and Mystery. ~ Jonathan Widran, RoviWikipedia on Answers.com:
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Tommy Emmanuel
| Tommy Emmanuel | |
|---|---|
 Emmanuel performing at the Soave Guitar Festival, Italy, May 2010 |
|
| Background information | |
| Born | 31 May 1955 Muswellbrook, New South Wales, Australia |
| Genres | Folk, Rock, Pop, Blues, Country |
| Occupations | Musician, Songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar, lap steel guitar |
| Years active | 1962–present |
| Associated acts | Dragon |
| Website | Official website |
| Notable instruments | |
| Maton TE Signature model, Williamson Guitars | |
William Thomas "Tommy" Emmanuel AM (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian guitarist and occasional singer, best known for his complex fingerstyle technique, energetic performances and the use of percussive effects on the guitar. In the May 2008 and 2010 issues of Guitar Player Magazine, he was named as "Best Acoustic Guitarist" in their readers' poll.[1] In June 2010 Emmanuel was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).[2]
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Contents
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Biography
Emmanuel was born in Australia in 1955. He received his first guitar in 1959 at age four, being taught by his mother to accompany her playing lap steel guitar. At the age of 7 he heard Chet Atkins on the radio. He vividly remembers this moment and says it greatly inspired him.[3]
By the age of 6, in 1961, he was a working professional musician. Recognizing the musical talents of Tommy and his brother Phil, their father created a family band, sold the family home and took his family on the road. With the family living in two station wagons, much of Emmanuel’s childhood was spent touring Australia with his family, playing rhythm guitar, and rarely going to school. The family found it difficult living on the road; they were poor but never hungry, never settling in one place. His father would often drive ahead, organize interviews, advertising and finding the local music shop where they'd have an impromptu concert the next day. Eventually the New South Wales Department of Education insisted that the Emmanuel children needed to go to school regularly.[3][4]
After his father died in 1966, the family settled in Parkes. Tommy eventually moved to Sydney where he came to be noticed nationally when he won a string of talent contests in his teen years.[3][5] By the late 1970s, he was playing drums with his brother Phil in the group Goldrush as well doing session work on numerous albums and jingles. He gained further prominence in the late 1970s as the lead guitarist in The Southern Star Band, the backing group for vocalist Doug Parkinson. During the early 1980s, he joined the reformed lineup of leading 1970s rock group Dragon, touring widely with them, including a 1987 tour with Tina Turner. He left the group to embark on a solo career.
Throughout his career he has played with many notable artists including Chet Atkins, Eric Clapton, Sir George Martin, Air Supply, John Denver, Les Paul and Doc Watson.
In 1994 Australian music veteran John Farnham invited him to play guitar next to Stuart Fraser from Noiseworks for the Concert For Rwanda. Emmanuel became a member of Farnham's band.
Emmanuel and his brother Phil performed live in Sydney at the closing ceremony of the Summer Olympics in 2000. The event was televised worldwide with an estimated 2.85 billion viewers.[5] When performing together the pair will sometimes share and play just one guitar with each having one hand free.
In October 2002 he was invited to perform the Australian folk song Waltzing Matilda at a service at the Washington National Cathedral held for the victims of the Bali bombings.
In December 2007 he was diagnosed with heart issues[6] and was forced to take a break from his hectic touring schedule due to exhaustion, but returned to full-time touring in early 2008.
In late January 2010, having been deeply touched by the tragic 2010 Haiti earthquake earlier in the same month, Emmanuel announced[7] that he would be auctioning off three guitars, that he personally played and owned, on eBay, in order to raise money to donate to UNICEF in Haiti.
In June 2010 Emmanuel was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).[2]
Musical style
Emmanuel has said that even at a young age he was fascinated by Atkins’ musical style – sometimes referred to as Travis picking – of playing bass with the thumb and melody parts with the first two or three fingers at the same time. This technique became the basis of Tommy's guitar style.
While Emmanuel has never had formal music training, his playing ability has won him fans from all over the world. He is known to play percussion parts on the body of his guitar. As a solo performer he never plays to a set list and uses a minimum of effects.[5] He usually completes recordings in one take.
Emmanuel frequently uses his left thumb to fret bass notes on the 5th and 6th strings as well as playing chords such as Am and E with just two fingers. He uses a thumb pick mostly, a flat pick or just fingers. He also integrates amongst his trademark blazing runs and kaleidoscopic chord progressions a quick note / chord "dive," imitating a tremolo system effect on his fixed-bridge acoustic guitars, by pressing the palm of his right hand against the body of the guitar directly above the fret board close to the neck joint while maintaining forward pressure with his left (fretting) hand.
His main guitar is a small-bodied custom Maton EBG808 made in 2003, that is fitted with a pickup and an internal condenser microphone, to which he has given the nickname "Mouse" due to its quieter volume unplugged but massive sound when plugged into an amp. Two of his main stage guitars, notably his signature TE1 Maton dreadnought, are battered and worn due to his excessive playing and percussive techniques.
Association with Chet Atkins
As a young man in Australia, Emmanuel wrote to his hero Chet Atkins in Nashville. Eventually Atkins replied with words of encouragement and a longstanding invitation to drop by to visit.[8]
In 1997, Emmanuel and Atkins recorded as a duo and released the album The Day Finger Pickers Took Over The World, which was also to be Atkins' last recorded album before he died. Emmanuel and Atkins appeared together on The Nashville Network's 'County Christmas' in late 1997 and on that occasion Atkins stated about him: "He is one of the greatest guitar players I've ever seen."
In July 1999, at the 15th Annual Chet Atkins Appreciation Society Convention, Chet presented Tommy with a Certified Guitar Player award, an honor Atkins has bestowed on other guitarists.[3] This award gains its fame from being bestowed by Atkins himself, a widely recognized leader in guitar music. The award states: "In Recognition Of His Contributions to the Art Of Fingerpicking." Tommy performs at the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society (CAAS) in July each year in Nashville.[9]
Discography
- 1979 From Out Of Nowhere
- 1987 Up From Down Under
- 1990 Dare to Be Different
- 1992 Determination
- 1993 The Journey
- 1993 The Journey Continues
- 1995 Initiation
- 1995 Terra Firma (with Phil Emmanuel)
- 1995 Classical Gas
- 1996 Can't Get Enough
- 1997 Midnight Drive (US release of Can't Get Enough)
- 1997 The Day Finger Pickers Took Over The World (With Chet Atkins)
- 1998 Collaboration
- 2000 Only
- 2001 The Very Best of Tommy Emmanuel
- 2004 Endless Road
- 2005 Live One
- 2006 Happy Hour (with Jim Nichols)
- 2006 The Mystery
- 2008 Center Stage
- 2009 Just Between Frets (with Frank Vignola)
- 2010 Little by Little
- 2010 Tommy Emmanuel Essential 3.0
- 2011 All I Want For Christmas (Holy day Album)[10]
Emmanuel released the DVD "Live At Her Majesty's Theatre, Ballarat, Australia" on 11 July 2006 and also the "Center Stage" accompanying DVD in late 2008.
Emmanuel has produced 3 instructional videos: Guitar Talk (1993), Up Close (1996), Emmanuel Labor (2008)
Awards
"Smokey Mountain Lullaby", a duet with Chet Atkins, was nominated for the 1998 Grammy award for Country Instrumental Performance but did not win. His song "Gameshow Rag/Cannonball Rag" won "Instrumental of the Year" at the 35th Tamworth Country Music Festival on Saturday, 27 January 2007,[11] and also was nominated that year for a Grammy for "Best Country Instrumental Performance".[12]
References
- ^ www.tommyemmanuel.com
- ^ a b It's an Honour: AM
- ^ a b c d A Great Guitarist Comes Up From Down Under. Mark Pritcher interview. Accessed on 29 Dec 2011.
- ^ Country Music Online interview. Accessed on 7 May 2008.
- ^ a b c MusicFrisk interview. Accessed on 13 March 2008.
- ^ "Oz music legend Tommy Emmanuel falls ill", posting on 'Break Hollywood', December 2007. Accessed on 4 April 2008.
- ^ "Tommy Emmanuel's plea for his guitar auction", YouTube video, 24 January 2010.
- ^ Just Jazz Guitar interview. Accessed on 13 March 2008.
- ^ Modern Guitars Magazine interview. Accessed on 13 March 2008.
- ^ http://www.bmansbluesreport.com/2011/11/all-i-want-for-christmas-tommy-emmanuel.html#links
- ^ Tamworth Country Music Festival website. Accessed on 13 March 2008.
- ^ Countrymusic. About website. Accessed on 13 March 2008.
External links
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Mentioned in
Tommy Emmanuel: Live at Sheldon Concert Hall
(Music Film)
The Essential Chet Atkins: The Columbia Years [Sony]
(2004 Album by Chet Atkins)
Bachelor Girl
(Rock Band, '90s)
The Mystery
(2006 Album by Tommy Emmanuel)
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