Tommy Emmanuel Lights Up New Year With UK & US Tour Dates
The tour kicks off on February 20.
By: Michael Major Jan. 04, 2024
Coming off a dynamic 2023 which saw the release of his acclaimed collaborations album ACCOMPLICE TWO, a Grammy nomination, and “Lifetime Achievement” Award from The National GUITAR Museum, TOMMY EMMANUEL is starting 2024 where he brilliantly shines—on the stage—with his infectious guitar virtuosity and charismatic personality.
Between January 10-February 2, the acoustic guitarist extraordinaire, composer, and global touring artist will headline shows in the UK (with support act Molly Tuttle), Ireland (with Mike Dawes) and Paris (with Clive Carroll) before returning to the US on February 20 in Tulsa, OK. See his U.S. tour dates below (with support acts Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley) and the full international tour dates here.
TOMMY's Grammy nomination (in the Best Arrangement, Instrumental or A Cappella category) is for “Folsom Prison Blues” by The String Revolution Featuring Tommy Emmanuel that was produced by Grammy winning producer (and Johnny Cash's son), John Carter Cash. Watch an in-studio video of it HERE and a discussion of the recording with TOMMY and The String Revolution HERE. The GRAMMYs air Sunday, February 4 and will broadcast live on the CBS Television Network and stream live and on-demand on Paramount+ at 8-11:30 p.m. ET/5-8:30 p.m. PT.
This past December, The National GUITAR Museum bestowed TOMMY with its annual “Lifetime Achievement” Award for 2023. He's the fourteenth recipient of the award that most recently (2022) celebrated Jeff Beck.
“To watch Tommy play fingerstyle guitar is to see possibilities in the guitar that most guitarists don't even know exist,” according to HP Newquist, the executive director of The National GUITAR Museum. “Tommy's extraordinary skill is second to none among modern guitar players. He truly is one of the few players in history about whom the term “jaw-dropping” is perfectly suited. Over his decades-long career he has become both an icon and an inspiration, and we're honored to be able to recognize Tommy's contribution to the guitar with this award.”
Said TOMMY: “I want to thank the National Guitar Museum for this wonderful honor. I feel like it was yesterday when I started playing this beautiful instrument,” said Tommy. “I will always be grateful to my parents for nurturing us kids as youngsters, encouraging us and exposing us to good music, and the artists who exemplified the words "Talented Entertainers". The guitar has taken me places I could never have dreamed of, introduced me to audiences all over the world that I now have a relationship with, and kept that fire burning in my belly, to keep trying to learn more, play better, write deeper and give it all up on stage to the people I love playing for. I owe so much to so many who came before me and laid it all out. We, the lucky generation, have big shoes to fill.”
TOMMY EMMANUEL's current album ACCOMPLICE TWO (the follow-up to 2018's Accomplice One album) was released this past April via CGP Sounds. Produced lovingly by EMMANUEL, regarded by guitar great Chet Atkins as “one of the best guitar players I've ever seen,” the 16-track ACCOMPLICE TWO is a spirited mix of new takes on indelible classics and brand-new originals from TOMMY.
His collaborators are some of the most remarkable musicians on the planet—an “A” list of musicians including Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Michael McDonald, Jamey Johnson, Raul Malo, and many more (the full list is HERE). View the album's critical praise HERE. EMMANUEL has continued to release videos including most recently these, filmed by Joshua Britt and Neilson Hubbard for Neighborhoods Apart.
ACCOMPLICE TWO is alive with the electric spirit of spontaneous, timeless joy created by inspired virtuosos. The combined artistry contained on these tracks is stunning, as is TOMMY's cheerful ease at connecting naturally with this vast spectrum of musicians. Like the first volume, he merges the presence of beloved, legendary musicians—such as Jorma Kaukonen, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Little Feat, Sam Bush, the Del McCoury Band and Jerry Douglas—with the bright spirit of acclaimed young artists breaking through with deep artistry and true reverence for the power of song.
Tommy Emmanuel Tour Dates
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ABOUT TOMMY EMMANUEL:
TOMMY EMMANUEL has achieved enough musical milestones to satisfy several lifetimes. At the age of six, he was touring regional Australia with his family band. By 30, he was a rock n' roll lead guitarist burning up stadiums in Europe. At 44, he became one of five people ever named a CPG (Certified Guitar Player) by his idol, music icon Chet Atkins. Today, he plays hundreds of sold-out shows every year from Nashville to Sydney to London.
He's piled up numerous accolades, including two Grammy Award nominations, two ARIA Awards from the Australian Recording Industry Association (the Aussie equivalent of the Recording Academy); repeated honors in the Guitar Player magazine reader's poll including a cover story for their August 2017 issue; a cover feature for Vintage Guitar's July 2020 issue; and was Music Radar's reader's poll #1 winner of the Ten Best Acoustic Guitarists in The World (December 2019).
A noted fingerstyle guitarist, EMMANUEL frequently threads three different parts simultaneously into his material, operating as a one-man band who handles the melody, the supporting chords and the bass all at once. His talents, which translate in any language, carry him to the far corners of the globe, but EMMANUEL never plays the same show twice, and he improvises big chunks of every date.
That leaves him open to those technical imperfections, though they also provide some of the humanity to an other-worldly talent. On May 8, 2020, he released a newly recorded career-spanning double album, THE BEST OF TOMMYSONGS, via CGP Sounds/Cruzen Street Records). Watch the album trailer here which focuses on TOMMY's unique ability to tell stories without words.
Photo Credit: Simone Cecchett
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