Photos: Tommy Emmanuel to Release THE MYSTERY 20th Anniversary Edition Sept. 4, Tour Starts Next Week
The reissue includes a previously unreleased live recording of What A Wonderful World.
Tommy Emmanuel has announced a 20th anniversary remastered reissue of his 2006 album THE MYSTERY, set for release on September 4. The special edition marks the album's first appearance on vinyl and includes bonus material, among them a previously unreleased live instrumental recording of the Louis Armstrong standard What A Wonderful World, which became available today. The GRAMMY-winning guitarist's U.S. tour dates are set to begin next week.
Photo Credit: Luciano Viti (Download High Res)
Tommy Emmanuel says of the reissue: 'I'm excited for people to rediscover some of my earlier songs and hear them in all their purity, not road-honed or beaten up by too many shows, just to be heard as the composer intended. I hope you get a fresh look at my songs with this reissue on vinyl.'
The Mystery has a peace and a gentleness that emanates throughout the compositions. The song titles offer some insight: 'Cowboy's Dream,' 'The Mystery,' 'That's the Spirit,' 'Footprints,' 'Keep it Simple.' Emmanuel proves skillful without being flashy; calm without being dull; thoughtful without being pedantic. He remains faithful to the melody, using his exceptional guitar work to support the essence of the song. The record also features one of Emmanuel's most popular original songs 'Lewis & Clark,' and a very beautiful instrumental arrangement of the Billy Joel classic 'And So It Goes.'
Tommy Emmanuel first began touring at the age of six in his native Australia as part of a family band. In his teenage years, he turned heads as a highly sought after session player and sideman, and by his early twenties, Emmanuel was playing on chart-topping hits and performing with some of the biggest names in Australian music, including Air Supply and Men at Work. Inspired in part by his hero, Chet Atkins (who would later become a friend, mentor, and collaborator), Emmanuel stepped out on his own as a solo artist in 1979, releasing the first in a string of critically and commercially acclaimed instrumental albums that would make him an unlikely celebrity in his home country and beyond.
In the decades that followed, he would go on to headline everywhere from the Sydney Opera House to Carnegie Hall; tour with the likes of Eric Clapton and John Denver; win a GRAMMY Award for Best Instrumental Arrangement; perform for a televised audience of more than two billion at the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics; and collaborate with everyone from Les Paul and Mark Knopfler to Joe Walsh and Richard Thompson. NPR's World Cafe declared him 'one of the best acoustic guitarists in the world,' while the New York Times hailed him as a 'prodigy,' and Atkins crowned him with the title of Certified Guitar Player (an honorary only ever bestowed upon four other artists).
Emmanuel continued to push himself throughout his career, relocating permanently to Nashville in the early 2000s and collaborating with a rising generation of guitarists like Jason Isbell, Molly Tuttle, and Billy Strings on the studio albums Accomplice One and Accomplice Two. Last year, Emmanuel released Living In The Light, his first solo album in ten years. Recorded and mixed with producer Vance Powell (Jack White, Chris Stapleton, Phish), Living in the Light is a virtuosic blend of acoustic pop, jazz, classical, and roots music delivered by one of the modern era's most accomplished and versatile guitarists.
More than sixty years into his storied career, Tommy Emmanuel is still hungry for adventure. 'As I get older, I find myself taking a lot more risks, and having a lot more fun in the process,' says Emmanuel, who recently celebrated his 70th birthday. 'When young people come to my shows and have this awakening that it's okay to be different, that the possibilities of music and self-expression are limitless, that's what it's all about for me.'
Tracklisting
1. Cantina Senese
2. Gameshow Rag/Cannonball Rag
3. The Mystery
4. Cowboy's Dream
5. Walls
6. Lewis & Clark
7. The Diggers' Waltz
8. Antonella's Birthday
9. And So It Goes
10. That's The Spirit
11. Footprints
12. Keep It Simple
13. What a Wonderful World (Live) [Vinyl/Digital Bonus Track]
14. The Digger's Waltz (Live) [Digital Bonus Track]
15. Keep it Simple (Live) [Digital Bonus Track]
2026 US Tour Dates
Aug. 14, 2026 - Capitol Theatre - Wheeling, WV
Aug. 15, 2026 - Appalachian Theatre of the High Country - Boone, NC (Doc Watson Day Celebration)
Aug. 16, 2026 - Beacon Theatre - Hopewell, VA
Aug. 19, 2026 - Grand Theatre - Frankfort, KY
Aug. 20, 2026 - Buskirk-Chumley Theater - Bloomington, IN (w/ Trey Hensley)
Aug. 21, 2026 - Blue Gate PAC - Shipshewana, IN (w/ Trey Hensley)
Aug. 22, 2026 - Taft Theatre - Cincinnati, OH (w/ Trey Hensley)
Aug. 23, 2026 - Tennessee Theatre - Knoxville, TN (w/ Trey Hensley)
Sep. 17, 2026 - The Coach House - San Juan Capistrano, CA (w/ Jack Tuttle & Scott Gates)
Sep. 18, 2026 - The Coach House - San Juan Capistrano, CA (w/ Jack Tuttle & Scott Gates)
Sep. 19, 2026 - Plaza Theatre - Palm Springs, CA (w/ Jack Tuttle & Scott Gates)
Sep. 20, 2026 - Legends Lounge & Event Center - Bakersfield, CA (w/ Jack Tuttle & Scott Gates)
Sep. 23, 2026 - The Guild Theatre - Menlo Park, CA (w/ Jack Tuttle & Scott Gates)
Sep. 24, 2026 - Laxson Auditorium, CSU Chico - Chico, CA (w/ Jack Tuttle & Scott Gates)
Sept. 25, 2026 - Sisters Folk Fest - Sisters, OR
Sept. 27, 2026 - Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival - Austin, TX
Oct. 8, 2026 - Alaska Centre for the Performing Arts - Anchorage, AK
Oct. 9, 2026 - Kenai Central High School Auditorium - Kenai, AK
Oct. 11, 2026 - Hering Auditorium - Fairbanks, AK
Dec. 3, 2026 - Charleston Music Hall - Charleston, SC (w/ Trey Hensley)
Dec. 4, 2026 - Newberry Opera House - Newberry, SC (w/ Trey Hensley)
Dec. 5, 2026 - Walker Theatre - Chattanooga, TN (w/ Trey Hensley)
Dec. 6, 2026 - Carolina Theatre - Durham, NC (w/ Trey Hensley)
Dec. 7, 2026 - Knight Theater - Charlotte, NC (w/ Trey Hensley)
Dec. 9, 2026 - Variety Playhouse - Atlanta, GA (w/ Trey Hensley)
Dec. 10, 2026 - Ponte Vedra Concert Hall - Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (w/ Trey Hensley)
Dec. 11, 2026 - Plaza Live Orlando - Orlando, FL (w/ Trey Hensley)
Dec. 12, 2026 - Bilheimer Capitol Theatre - Clearwater, FL (w/ Trey Hensley)
THE MYSTERY originally featured the track Gameshow Rag/Cannonball Rag, which earned a nomination for Best Country Instrumental Performance at the 49th Annual GRAMMY Awards. The album also includes Lewis & Clark, one of Emmanuel's best-known original compositions, alongside an instrumental arrangement of Billy Joel's And So It Goes.
Photo Credit: Luciano Viti (Download High Res)
