Tommy Emmanuel | |
|---|---|
_096.jpg) Emmanuel in Berlin, September 2024 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | William Thomas Emmanuel (1955-05-31)31 May 1955 (age 70) Muswellbrook, New South Wales, Australia |
| Genres | Jazz,pop,rock,country |
| Occupation | Musician |
| Instrument(s) | Guitar, vocals |
| Years active | 1962–present |
| Labels | Sony,Columbia,Favored Nations |
| Website | tommyemmanuel |
| Signature | |
 | |
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 theOrder of Australia (AM);[1] in 2011, he was inducted into theAustralian Roll of Renown.[2] In 2019, he was listed by MusicRadar as the bestacoustic guitarist in the world.[3]
One of six children, Emmanuel was born inMuswellbrook, 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 playinglap steel guitar. In 1961, at the age of six, he heardChet 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 starBuddy 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. The family settled inParkes, New South Wales after theNew South Wales Department of Education insisted that the Emmanuel children had to go to school regularly.[5]
In his teen years, Tommy Emmanuel moved to Sydney, and was noticed nationally when he won a string of talent contests.[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 vocalistDoug Parkinson. During 1986–1988 and 1995, he joined the lineup of the leading New Zealand/Australian 1970s rock groupDragon that had reformed in 1982, touring widely with them, including a 1987 tour withTina Turner; he left the group to embark on a solo career.
In 1994, Australian music veteranJohn Farnham invited him to play the guitar next to Stuart Fraser fromNoiseworks for theConcert for Rwanda. Emmanuel had previously been a member of Farnham's band during the early 1980s and featured on the albumUncovered and rejoined after the 1994 concert.
In July 1999,Chet Atkins commented that Emmanuel was a "fearless"fingerpicking guitar player and awarded Tommy and three others (John Knowles,Jerry Reed, andSteve Wariner) the "Certified Guitar Player" title.[7][8]
Emmanuel and his brother Phil performed live in Sydney at the closing ceremony of theSummer Olympics in 2000. The event was televised worldwide with an estimated 2.85 billion 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 June 2010, Emmanuel was appointed a Member of theOrder of Australia (AM).[1]
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.[10]
In 2012, GovernorSteve Beshear awarded Emmanuel the state of Kentucky's honorific title ofKentucky Colonel.[11]
In 2009 he worked with fellow local artistsRay Burgess,Marty Rhone,John St Peeters andJohn "Swanee" Swan to release a single, "Legends of the Southern Land".[12]
During a July 2019 concert he mentioned recently receiving American citizenship.[13]
In 2025, Emmanuel was awarded anhonorary doctorate by theUniversity of Newcastle for his contributions to music on a global scale.[14]
Emmanuel had said that even at a young age he was fascinated byChet Atkins's musical style (sometimes referred to asTravis 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, includingjazz,blues,bluegrass,folk and rock, this type ofcountry finger-style playing is at the core of his technique. While Emmanuel has never had formal music training and cannot read or transcribe 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.
_163.jpg)
In his solo shows, he mainly plays guitars made byMaton, 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.[15] 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.[16] 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'ssnare-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 thefretboard 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 athumbpick, a flat pick (plectrum), his fingers, or a combination of these in his playing, a style known ashybrid 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 thesound board of the guitar near the neck joint, while maintaining forward pressure with his left hand on the top of theheadstock. The guitar neck slightly bends away from the body and consequently affects the pitch of the strings to achieve the desired sound.[citation needed]
As a young man in Australia, Emmanuel wrote to his heroChet Atkins inNashville, Tennessee. Eventually, Atkins replied with words of encouragement and a long-standing invitation to drop by to visit.[17]
In 1997, Emmanuel and Atkins recorded as a duo, releasing the albumThe 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.[18] Emmanuel and Atkins appeared together onThe 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 whichArthur "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,[19] 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.[20]
In addition to being influenced by Chet Atkins, Emmanuel has stated that he and his brotherPhil Emmanuel were inspired by and modelled themselves onHank Marvin andBruce Welch ofthe Shadows.[21]
TheAPRA Awards (Australia) are annual awards to recognise composing and songwriting skills, sales, and airplay performance by its members annually.
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992 | Jazz Composition of the Year | "Stevie's Blues" | Won |
The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards, commonly known asARIA 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".[22] The inaugural ARIA Awards took place in 1987.[23]
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Best Cover Art | "Up from Down Under" | Nominated |
| 1991 | Best Adult Contemporary Album | Dare to Be Different | Nominated |
| 1992 | Best Adult Contemporary Album | Determination | Won |
| Best Male Artist | Nominated | ||
| 1994 | Best Adult Contemporary Album | The Journey | Won |
| 1995 | Best Adult Contemporary Album | Terra Firma | Nominated |
| 1996 | Best Adult Contemporary Album | Classical Gas | Nominated |
| 1997 | Best Adult Contemporary Album | Can't Get Enough | Nominated |
| 2013 | Best Jazz Album | The Colonel & The Governor | Nominated |
TheAustralian 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 theCountry Music Awards of Australia in Tamworth in January.[24]
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Tommy Emmanuel | Australian Country Music Roll of Renown | inductee |
TheCountry Music Awards of Australia (CMAA) (also known as the Golden Guitar Awards) is an annual awards night held in January during theTamworth Country Music Festival, celebrating recording excellence in the Australian country music industry. They have been held annually since 1973.[25][26]
| 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) | Won |
TheGrammy Awards is an annual award presentation byThe Recording Academy to recognise achievement in the mainly English-languagemusic industry.[27]
| Year | Category | Nominated work | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Best Country Instrumental Performance | "Smokey Mountain Lullaby" | Nominated |
| 2006 | Best Country Instrumental Performance | "Gameshow Rag/Cannonball Rag" | Nominated |
| 2024 | Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella | "Folsom Prison Blues" | Won |
The Australian Entertainment Mo Awards (commonly known informally as theMo 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.[28]
| 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 |
TheNational 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.
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019[29][30] | Rosie Fitzgerald (I Know Leopard) | Live Guitarist of the Year | Nominated |
The National Guitar Museum nominated Emmanuel for its annual “Lifetime Achievement” Award in 2023.[31]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| People | |
| Other | |
