William Thomas EmmanuelAM (born 31 May 1955) is an Australian guitarist. Originally a session player in many bands, he has released many award-winning recordings as a solo artist. In June 2010, Emmanuel was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM);[1] in 2011, he was inducted into the Australian Roll of Renown.[2] In 2019, he was listed by MusicRadar as the best acoustic guitarist in the world.[3]
One of six children, Emmanuel was born in Muswellbrook, New South Wales, Australia, in 1955. He received his first guitar in 1959 at age four and was taught by his mother to accompany her playing lap steel guitar. In 1961, at the age of six, he heard Chet Atkins playing on the radio. He vividly remembers that moment and said it greatly inspired him as a musician.[4]
By the age of six, he was a working professional musician. Recognizing the musical talents of Emmanuel and his older brother, Phil, their father created a family band, sold their 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, playing rhythm guitar, and rarely going to school. After their father died in 1966, Australian Country Music star Buddy Williams approached the family and asked permission to take the Emmanuel brothers on the road with his touring show travelling around Australia. Tommy Emmanuel would go on to record a number of Buddy Williams albums in the early 1970s. Eventually, the New South Wales Department of Education insisted that the Emmanuel children had to go to school regularly.[5]
The Emmanuels eventually settled in Parkes. Tommy Emmanuel eventually moved to Sydney, where he was noticed nationally when he won a string of talent contests in his teen years.[4][6] By the late 1970s, he was playing drums with his brother Phil in the group Goldrush as well as 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 1986–1988 and 1995, he joined the lineup of the leading New Zealand/Australian 1970s rock group Dragon that had reformed in 1982, touring widely with them, including a 1987 tour with Tina Turner; he left the group to embark on a solo career.
In 1994, Australian music veteran John Farnham invited him to play the guitar next to Stuart Fraser from Noiseworks for the Concert for Rwanda. Emmanuel had previously been a member of Farnham's band during the early 1980s and featured on the album Uncovered and rejoined after the 1994 concert.
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 2.85billion viewers.[6]
In December 2007, he was diagnosed with heart problems[9] 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 2009 he worked with fellow local artists Ray Burgess, Marty Rhone, John St Peeters and John "Swanee" Swan to release a single, "Legends of the Southern Land".[10]
At the 2011 ‘TommyFest’, Tommy took the chance to talk to the audience about his strong Christian faith. “The Lord is my shepherd, so I lack nothing—it’s true!” he told the gathered crowds. [11]
During a July 2019 concert he mentioned recently receiving American citizenship.[13]
Guitar style
Emmanuel's fingerstyle technique was featured at a June 2006 performance at City Stages in Birmingham, Alabama
Emmanuel had said that even at a young age he was fascinated by Chet Atkins's musical style (sometimes referred to as Travis picking) of playing bass lines, chords, melodies, and harmonies simultaneously using the thumb and fingers of the right hand, achieving a dynamic range of sound from the instrument. Although Emmanuel's playing incorporates a multitude of musical influences and styles, including jazz, blues, bluegrass, folk and rock, this type of country finger-style playing is at the core of his technique. While Emmanuel has never had formal music training and does not read or write music, his natural musical ability, intrinsic sense of rhythm, and charisma gained him fans from all over the world. As a solo performer, he never plays to a setlist and uses a minimum of effects onstage.[6] He usually completes studio recordings in one take.
In his solo shows, he mainly plays guitars made by Maton, an Australian guitar manufacturer. He usually travels with two custom Maton EBG808 TE models and one TE1 model, both of which are Tommy Emmanuel artist signature models.[14] He has played Maton guitars for most of his career and is somewhat of an ambassador for the company due to his long-standing association with the brand.[15] Emmanuel is known for the battered and worn-down appearances of his guitars; a result of his dynamic, energetic playing and percussive techniques. One of his signature performances, for example, involves striking the whole body of the guitar in various places with his hands or a drummer's snare-drum brush to emulate the sound of a percussion kit.
Emmanuel usually keeps one Maton EBG808 in standard guitar tuning (E-A-D-G-B-E), while he tunes his second Maton EBG808 to D-G-D-G-B-E (G6 tuning) and his TE1 to C♯-F♯-B-E-G♯-C♯. He generally uses 0.12 gauge (light) strings on one EBG808 and 0.13 gauge (medium) strings on the second Maton EBG808 and on the TE1. This allows him to quickly change tuning by swapping between guitars during a show if needed, rather than spending time onstage re-tuning one guitar.[citation needed]
Emmanuel often curls his left thumb around the neck of the guitar onto the fretboard to play some notes, rather than using only his fingers to play — contrary to how classical guitarists play, but not unusual for jazz and country guitarists. He frequently plays common three-finger chord shapes with just two fingers. He commonly uses a thumbpick, a flat pick (plectrum), his fingers, or a combination of these in his playing, a style known as hybrid picking. Amongst his trademark rapid virtuoso licks and cascading harmonic progressions, he often uses a technique that imitated an electric guitar's tremolo system on acoustic guitar — by pressing the palm of his right hand against the sound board of the guitar near the neck joint, while maintaining forward pressure with his left hand on the top of the headstock. The guitar neck slightly bends away from the body and consequently affects the pitch of the strings to achieve the desired sound.[citation needed]
Influences
As a young man in Australia, Emmanuel wrote to his hero Chet Atkins in Nashville, Tennessee. Eventually, Atkins replied with words of encouragement and a long-standing invitation to drop by to visit.[16]
In 1997, Emmanuel and Atkins recorded as a duo, releasing the album The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World. It would be Atkins's last album, with the exception of "Solo Sessions" which Atkins' estate released posthumously.[17] Emmanuel and Atkins appeared together on The Nashville Network's 'Country Christmas' in late 1997, and on that occasion, Atkins stated about him: "He is one of the greatest guitar players I've ever seen." Atkins gave Emmanuel the guitar on which Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith recorded "Guitar Boogie", one of the foundation performances of the blues guitar world and a regular feature of Emmanuel's shows.
In July 1999, at the 15th Annual Chet Atkins Appreciation Society Convention,[18] Atkins presented Emmanuel with a Certified Guitar Player award, an honour Chet personally bestowed to only four guitarists.[4] This award gains its fame from being bestowed by Atkins himself, a widely recognised leader in guitar music. The award states: "In Recognition of His Contributions to the Art of Fingerpicking." Tommy performed at the Chet Atkins Appreciation Society (CAAS) in July each year in Nashville.[19]
The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards, commonly known as ARIA Music Awards, are held to recognise excellence and innovation and achievement across all genres of Australian music. Award nominees and winners, excluding for sales and public voted categories, are selected by the ARIA Academy comprising "judges from all sectors of the music industry - retail, radio and tv, journalists and critics, television presenters, concert promoters, agents, ARIA member record companies and past ARIA winners".[21] The inaugural ARIA Awards took place in 1987.[22]
The Australian Roll of Renown honours Australian and New Zealand musicians who have shaped the music industry by making a significant and lasting contribution to Country Music. It was inaugurated in 1976 and the inductee is announced at the Country Music Awards of Australia in Tamworth in January.[23]
Year
Nominee / work
Award
Result
2011
Tommy Emmanuel
Australian Country Music Roll of Renown
inductee
Country Music Awards of Australia
The Country Music Awards of Australia (CMAA) (also known as the Golden Guitar Awards) is an annual awards night held in January during the Tamworth Country Music Festival, celebrating recording excellence in the Australian country music industry. They have been held annually since 1973.[24][25]
Year
Category
Nominated work
Result
2005
Instrumental of the Year
"Tall Fiddler"
Won
2007
Instrumental of the Year
"Gameshow Rag/Cannonball Rag"
Won
2019
Instrumental of the Year
"Wheelin' and Dealin'"
Won
2021
Bluegrass Recording of the Year
"Finger Picking Good" (Kristy Cox feat Tommy Emmanuel)
The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as the Mo Awards), were annual Australian entertainment industry awards. They recognise achievements in live entertainment in Australia from 1975 to 2016. Tommy Emmanuel won two awards in that time.[27]
Year
Nominee / work
Award
Result (wins only)
1994
Tommy Emmanuel
Australian Performer of the Year
Won
1996
Tommy Emmanuel
Australian Performer of the Year
Won
National Live Music Awards
The National Live Music Awards (NLMAs) are a broad recognition of Australia's diverse live industry, celebrating the success of the Australian live scene. The awards commenced in 2016.
Chester Burton Atkins, also known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music style which expanded its appeal to adult pop music fans. He was primarily a guitarist, but he also played the mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and ukulele, and occasionally sang.
Maton is an Australian musical instruments manufacturing company based in Box Hill, Melbourne. It was founded in 1946 by Bill May and his brother Reg. The name "Maton" came from the words "May Tone" and is pronounced May Tonne.
Martin Taylor, MBE is a British jazz guitarist who has performed solo, in groups, guitar ensembles, and as an accompanist.
Lee Kernaghan OAM is an Australian country music singer, songwriter and guitarist. Kernaghan has won four ARIA Awards and three APRA Awards, and has sold over two million albums, and as of 2021, has won 38 Golden Guitars at the Country Music Awards of Australia.
Troy Cassar-Daley is an Australian country music songwriter and entertainer.
The Mystery is an album by Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel that was released in 2006. The album includes the track "Gameshow Rag/Cannonball Rag" which was nominated for Best Country Instrumental Performance at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards. The song won Instrumental of the Year at the 2007 Country Music Awards of Australia.
The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World is an album by American guitarist Chet Atkins and Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel. Recorded when Atkins was 73, this was his last release of original material in the 20th century. "Smokey Mountain Lullaby" was nominated for the 1997 Grammy Award for Country Instrumental Performance.
The Journey is the sixth studio album by Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel. Released in September 1993, the album peaked at number 5 on the ARIA Charts; becoming Emmanuel's first top ten album. The album was certified double platinum in Australia in 1994.
Rick Allan Price is an Australian singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. His debut album, Heaven Knows, was released in July 1992, and peaked at No. 3 on the ARIA Albums Chart. It provided two top ten singles, "Not a Day Goes By" and the title track.
Anne Kirkpatrick is an Australian country music singer. She is the daughter of country singers Slim Dusty and Joy McKean.
Adam Eckersley is a singer, guitarist and songwriter from Grafton, Australia. He is the former vocalist and lead guitarist of award-winning blues band Bluezone, which have since disbanded. He has also been recently been signed to Universal Music Australia, Eckersley is married to fellow musician, Australian country music singer–songwriter Brooke McClymont, of The McClymonts.
Buddy Williams, born as Harry Taylor and also known as Harold Williams, was a pioneering Australian country music singer-songwriter, known as "The Yodelling Jackaroo".
John Knowles is an American acoustic guitarist.
Henno Althoff is a German record producer, recording engineer and studio owner, best known for his association with Australian fingerstyle guitarist Tommy Emmanuel.
Ralph Ernest Newton, professionally Slim Newton, was an Australian country music singer-songwriter and musician. In June 1972 he issued an extended play, The Redback on the Toilet Seat, which peaked at No. 3 on the Go-Set National Top 40 Singles Chart and sold over 100,000 copies. In 1973 Newton won a Golden Guitar Trophy at the inaugural Country Music Awards of Australia for Top Selling Record for the EP. Newton continued his career as a part-time musician and released several albums while also working in his trade as a welder. In 1977 the Country Music Association of Australia inducted him into the Australasian Country Music Hands of Fame, and then in 2009 into the Australian Roll of Renown.
High Tension was an Australian extreme metal band from Melbourne, Victoria. Formed in 2012, the band's original line-up featured Karina Utomo and Ash Pegram from Young and Restless with Matt Weston from The Nation Blue and Damian Coward from Love Like...Electrocution. Only Utomo and Weston remained from the original line-up throughout; the final line-up of the band featured guitarist Mike Deslandes, and drummer Lauren Hammel.
Margaret Edwina Lumsden, professionally known as Fanny Lumsden, is an Australian country music singer and songwriter. She has released 4 albums and 3 EPs.
Phillip Ernest Emmanuel was an Australian guitar player. He was the older brother of musician Tommy Emmanuel.
Bruce Mathiske is a Newcastle Australia-based virtuoso solo guitarist who has released 17 plus albums. Mathiske has studied both jazz and classical music.
Andy Golledge is an Australian country music singer and songwriter. He released his debut studio album, Strength of a Queen on 4 March 2022. For Golledge said Strength of a Queen is ultimately a journey saying "It's a search for somebody that loves you for who you are, and who you want to be, and ultimately sharing that journey together. It's about finding the strength of a queen within you and within another."
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