Tommy Emmanuel
William Thomas "Tommy" Emmanuel , AM , CGP (born May 31, 1955 in Muswellbrook , New South Wales ) is an Australian guitarist , drummer , bassist and songwriter . He has been nominated twice for the Grammy and is considered one of the world's best representatives of the so-called fingerstyle , a special playing technique, especially for acoustic guitar. His varied repertoire thrives on very different musical influences, ranging from American country , folk and blues music to jazz , African and Latin American styles to Spanish and classical elements.
Emmanuel comes from a very musical family and contributed to their livelihood as a guitarist as a child. The American musician Chet Atkins , with whom a close personal relationship later developed, had a major influence on his musical development in the early 1960s . As a teenager, Emmanuel played in the clubs of Sydney and quickly gained great fame as an instrumentalist and passionate entertainer, which over time brought him together with many musical greats.
Emmanuel gives over 300 concerts a year and also regularly produces CDs. He lives mostly in England and the USA , is married and has three daughters.
biography
Tommy Emmanuel is the fourth of six children. He comes from a musically gifted and active family and started playing drums and guitar at the age of four. He learned autodidactically only by ear and had neither lessons nor learning materials. Since the position of lead guitarist was already occupied by his older brother Phil Emmanuel (1952-2018) and his mother also needed an accompaniment for her lap steel guitar , he took on the role of rhythm guitarist in the family band. At the age of six he was already playing the guitar at an almost professional level.
According to his own statement, his further musical development took a decisive direction in 1962 when he first heard the title Windy and Warm by John D. Loudermilk in a version by Chet Atkins . Shortly after his father's death in 1966, Australian country music star Buddy Williams discovered Emmanuel and his siblings and took them on tour . After some time, this artistically remarkable but very unsteady way of life of the family was partially stopped by the Australian child welfare in order to enable the children to go to normal school, which was not possible due to the constant tours and changing locations and also due to the lessons from their mother could not be replaced.
During this time, Emmanuel and his siblings Chris and Virginia played in the band The Trailblazers on weekends to make a living for the family. The band won two televised talent shows and recorded an EP.
As a teenager, Tommy Emmanuel moved to Sydney to devote himself exclusively to his career as a guitarist. He played in various clubs in the city and thus gained first attention. He quickly became a sought-after session musician for other, more well-known protagonists of the time. He also recorded a lot of advertising jingles and played on recordings for the Air Supply group of Tiny Tim and Roberta Flack . Compositions that he wrote as a co-author were interpreted by musicians such as Olivia Newton-John , Al Jarreau and Sheena Easton . From 1985 to 1988 and 1995 he played with Dragon , one of the most popular New Zealand bands at the time. In 1987 Dragon toured with Tina Turner on their Break Every Rule tour. Over the years he has played with peers such as Eric Clapton (who thinks Emmanuel is the best guitarist he has ever seen), Les Paul , John Denver , John Farnham , Doc Watson , Leo Kottke , Paco de Lucía , Mark Knopfler and many other well-known musicians. He was one of the few who was asked to contribute to Michael Jackson's posthumously released and up to then incomplete album Michael a guitar solo on the track Much Too Soon .
His great role model from childhood was Chet Atkins . With him he recorded the album The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World in 1997 , which Emmanuel found a great honor. It was released in 1997 and earned them a Grammy nomination. In 1999 Chet Atkins bestowed on him the title of Certified Guitar Player (CGP) - something that Atkins had invented - for his lifelong efforts in the art of fingerstyle guitar, an award held by only two other artists at the time, Jerry Reed and John Knowles.
Together with his brother Phil, with whom he has repeatedly pursued different projects and given joint concerts over the years, Emmanuel had his biggest appearance to date at the closing gala of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, which was attended by around 2.5 billion television viewers worldwide was followed - except by the Americans, whose TV station, according to Tommy Emmanuel, took a commercial break at exactly this point in time. From 2001 onwards, Emmanuel became increasingly well known in Germany. In 2005 he played for the first time in Korea , Poland and Croatia , in 2006 in Slovenia and Belgium . To this day he tours all continents and regularly plays more than 300 shows a year. In addition, Emmanuel releases a new album almost every year and brings out concert and instructional DVDs. Over time, this led to health problems, high blood pressure and heart problems, which, however, according to their own statement, are medically adjusted.
In 2011 he completed the promotional tour for the album Little by Little - just like the studio production - for the first time again with his own band. As a soloist, he usually plays without a setlist , since he wants to present a different program every evening and thus do justice to the mood of the audience.
Playing technique and performance
Tommy Emmanuel himself simply calls his playing technique fingerstyle , comparable to so-called fingerpicking . The terms indicate that several fingers (Emmanuel uses all five fingers if necessary) of the beating hand are used to play the strings. He describes the complete independence of the thumb from the other four fingers as the basis for his game. He often uses thumbpicks to give the bass notes played with the thumb more pressure and a more accentuated sound. He also plays with picks (flat picks ), which he also combines with fingerpicking of the right hand. This technique is known as hybrid picking or chicken picking and is particularly common in country music . Especially with quiet pieces, Emmanuel often completely dispenses with picks and only plays with his fingers in order to make the tone sound softer and fuller.
Emmanuel's playing is often very rhythmic and syncopated , which gives the titles a distinctive groove . His guitar playing benefits from his precise timing as a drummer, which he is able to maintain even with very fast and complicated beats and which is supported by a constant beat of his mostly left foot. Emmanuel is able to play up to three different instrumental parts simultaneously within one track . He usually uses the thumb of his right beating hand for a bass run, index and middle fingers for the sequence of a rhythm guitar, as well as the ring finger and now and then little finger for the melody part. At the same time, the fingers of the left hand grasp the corresponding notes and chords. This technique, which is as astonishing as it is complicated, often gives the listener the impression that the song is being played by several guitarists. Emmanuel's playing two different titles at the same time is equally impressive.
Emmanuel prefers to play on acoustic guitars from the Australian manufacturer Maton and uses amplifiers from the Recklinghausen-based manufacturer Audio Electric Research GmbH. He also uses a reverb and echo device for special sound effects at live performances . It uses 0.12 (light) and 0.13 (medium) strings , but keeps changing manufacturers to produce a more varied sound. His instruments can often be seen to serve as “tools”. Using various aids such as picks or brooms , he often scratches, drums and taps on the guitars or the vocal microphone in order to create a variety of sounds and atmosphere through percussive elements - heard for example in the title Initiation . Emmanuel's “drum solo” on the guitar has also become an integral part of his performances.
His guitars are tuned in the standard tuning EADGHE or the open G tuning DGDGHD for almost all songs , but slightly higher in live and studio sessions (concert pitch A = 444 Hertz ). For instructional DVDs, he uses 440 Hz for the concert pitch to save the students from retuning.
Emmanuel gives his favorite guitar name. That's what he called his favorite guitar, a battered and repeatedly patched up Custom Maton EBG 808 with a small body, "Mouse". Another he called "Yellow Mouse", a Maton cutaway "Bertha". According to a personal conversation from October 2012, all three guitars have been in the Maton Museum since summer 2012.
The passionate stage presence and energetic performance of Emmanuel is well known. He is also considered a humorous and charismatic, yet modest entertainer and cultivates warm, direct and open communication with his audience. He is known for the fact that he likes to pass on his knowledge and skills and impart them to others. It is not uncommon for him to incorporate smaller “guitar lessons” into his concerts for his listeners or, for this purpose, to visit music schools and similar institutions in addition to his everyday touring. He also repeatedly brings interested guests from the audience to the stage in order to intone one or the other song with them.
social commitment
In addition to his regular public activities in the field of guitar lessons, Emmanuel is involved in the project Kids Under Cover in Australia , a charity organization that gives socially disadvantaged and risky young people a home and enables them to go to school.
Emmanuel's motivation to give over 300 concerts a year and to get involved in other ways goes well beyond the mere opportunity to earn a living. In many of his interviews and statements, he expresses a high degree of empathy and compassion for socially weak and disadvantaged people. He sees his stage presence and positive charisma as a contribution that he can personally afford to generate optimistic feelings and moods in his listeners and to be an example for them of a positive attitude. Emmanuel is therefore planning very specifically to further intensify his activities in this direction with more annual concerts.
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
- 1994 Back on Terra Firma (with Phil Emmanuel)
- 1995 initiation
- 1995 Classical Gas
- 1996 Can't Get Enough
- 1997 The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World (with Chet Atkins )
- 1998 collaboration
- 2000 only
- 2001 greatest hits
- 2004 Endless Road
- 2005 Live One
- 2006 Midnight Drive
- 2006 Happy Hour (with Jim Nichols)
- 2007 The Mystery
- 2008 Center Stage
- 2009 Just Between Frets (with Frank Vignola )
- 2010 Little by Little
- 2010 Tommy Emmanuel Essentials 3 CD
- 2011 All I Want for Christmas
- 2013 The Colonel & The Governor (with Martin Taylor )
- 2014 The Guitar Mastery Of Tommy Emmanuel
- 2015 It's never too late
- 2016 Christmas Memories
- 2017 Music gone public
- 2017 LIVE! At the Ryman
- 2017 Pickin '(with David Grisman )
- 2018 Accomplice One (with Rodney Crowell , Ricky Skaggs , Jason Isbell and others)
Awards
Some of the most important awards that Emmanuel has received so far:
- 1990: Best Guitarist - Rolling Stone Magazine
- 1998: Best Country Instrumental Album , Nashville Music Awards
- 1998: Grammy Nomination - with Chet Atkins for The Day Fingerpickers Took over the World
- 1999: Certified Guitar Player , unofficial title awarded by Chet Atkins for his outstanding contribution to fingerstyle picking
- 2005: Member of the National Thumbpickers' Hall of Fame in Muhlenberg, KY, the only non-American ever inducted
- 2005: CMAA Awards - Instrumental of the Year ("Tall Fiddler")
- 2007: CMAA Awards - Instrumental of the Year ("Gameshow Rag / Cannonball Rag")
- 2006: Grammy Nomination - Best Country Instrumental Performance
- 2008: Best Acoustic Guitarist - Guitar Player Magazine
- 2008: Gold Medalist - Fingerstyle category - Acoustic Guitar Magazine - Readers 'Choice and Players' Choice Awards
- 2009: Guitar Legend Award Guitar Player Magazine
- 2010: Best Acoustic Guitarist - Guitar Player Magazine
- 2010: Member of the Order of Australia (AM), awarded by the Queen of England, Elizabeth II.
- 2011: Global Country Artist of the Year - CMA Country Music Association Awards
Web links
- Tommy Emmanuel in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Tommy Emmanuel at Discogs (English)
- Official website of Tommy Emmanuel (English)
- Guitar tabs
- Certified Guitar Player
- Interview with Tommy Emmanuel on Soundcheck.de, 2011 (PDF; 1.3 MB)
- Interview with Tommy Emmanuel on FingerstyleGuitarists.com
- Chet Atkins presented the CGP Award to Tommy Emmanuel in 1999
Sources and individual references
- ^ Phil Emmanuel, Australian Guitar Legend, Dies at 65
- ^ Jazz in Town Festival , Berlin 2007
- ↑ a b c d biography on Emmanuel's official website ( memento of the original from August 25, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Ian McFarlane : [ Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop ( Memento of April 19, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) Encyclopedia entries for 'Dragon'] . In: Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop . Allen & Unwin, 1999, ISBN 1-86448-768-2, (accessed December 7, 2008).
- ^ Official website of the band Dragon
- ↑ Northside San Francisco Magazine ( Memento of the original from May 11, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Tommy and Phil Emmanuel - Irish and Scottish Medley , 2001
- ↑ Little by Little . Tommy Emmanuel, in: Acoustic Guitar 1/11, pp. 44–48.
- ↑ Tommy Emmanuel - The Austrade Interview , 2010
- ^ "The Band" - Konserthuset in Gothenburg, Sweden, April 2009
- ↑ Tommy Emmanuel - 2 Songs at the same time, Sweden, April 2009
- ↑ Tommy Emmanuel - Initiation , live in the Fritz-Hensler-Haus, Dortmund, 2005
- ^ Tommy Emmanuel - Drum Solo , Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts
- ↑ Emmanuel Labor DVD - Fingerstyle Guitar Players.com
- ↑ Interview with Tommy Emmanuel in Seoul, 2009
- ↑ Tommy Emmanuel CGP Forum ( Memento of the original from December 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Superclinic with Tommy Emmanuel, 4Sound / Eskildsen Aalborg, Sweden
- ↑ Tommy Emmanuel and Brittni Paiva in a duet at the California Worldfest
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Awards from Tommy Emmanuel on his official website ( memento of the original from January 21, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ PAST GOLDEN GUITAR AWARD WINNERS (2000s) . Country. Archived from the original on January 25, 2014. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
- ^ Australian Government - It's an Honor
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Emmanuel, Tommy |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Emmanuel, William Thomas (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Australian guitarist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 31, 1955 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Muswellbrook , New South Wales, Australia |