Guitar Great Tommy Emmanuel is Coming to SOPAC

Tommy Emmanuel, CGP, or Certified Guitar Player-a title held by only four other guitarists in the world-is coming to SOPAC on April 14 at 7:30 pm. Tickets go on sale for members beginning Monday, September 13 at noon and the public on Friday, September 17 at noon. Prices range from $49-$59. Emmanuel's special guest will be fellow fingerstyle guitarist Richard Smith.

Tommy Emmanuel has achieved enough musical milestones to satisfy several lifetimes. At age six, he was touring Australia with his family band. By 30, he was a Rock lead guitarist playing stadiums. At 44, he was named a Certified Guitar Player by his idol, music icon Chet Atkins. Today, he plays sold-out shows everywhere from Nashville to Sydney.

The four-time winner of Australia's Best Guitarist Award has helped bring the art of Rock guitar down under to a higher awareness by mixing Jazz improvisation with Blues, Country, Rock, Classical and Spanish music.

Influenced by the Merle Travis/Chet Atkins fingerstyle of guitar picking, Emmanuel developed a style of solo guitar playing that encompasses the range of a whole band-covering drums, bass, rhythm, lead guitar and vocal melody simultaneously. While some artists take a band on the road, Emmanuel built a complete sonic world entirely on his own with no overdubs or loops. Emmanuel has two Grammy nominations and has won countless awards. Numerous magazine polls have named him the greatest acoustic guitarist alive.

He has shown a mastery and affinity for both electric and acoustic axes and has been singled out by notable musicians such as Todd Rundgren, who dubbed him an innovator on the instrument. The title CGP, or Certified Guitar Player, was bestowed on Emmanuel by Chet Atkins and is held by only four other guitarists in the world-John Knowles, Jerry Reed, Steve Warriner and Paul Yandell.

One quality that defines Emmanuel's greatness is the joy in his music.

"The joy," he says, "is there always because I'm chasing it through music. Seeing the surprise in peoples' eyes is worth living and working for... I can't help but play to the people with all my heart, which is overflowing with joy of being in that moment that I've worked all my life for."