Internationally Acclaimed Guitarist Tommy Emmanuel Comes To Musco Center, 12/10

Musco Center for the Arts will present internationally acclaimed acoustic guitarist Tommy Emmanuel, with special guests Jim and Morning Nichols, on Tuesday, December 10, 2019 at 7:30 pm.

Emmanuel, twice voted "Best Acoustic Guitarist" by readers of Guitar Player Magazine and a four-time winner of his native Australia's Best Guitarist Award, is a master of the fingerpicking style of guitar playing. Like his mentor and friend Chet Atkins, prodigious talents from an early age allowed him to master a wide range of genres, from country, blues and rock to jazz, classical, and Spanish music. All Music Guide credited him with "helping bring the art of rock guitar in Australia to greater awareness with a sense of jazz improvisation."

Among his critically acclaimed recordings are The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World, a 1997 collaboration with Atkins, and Chet Lag, a 2000 collaboration with Jim Nichols and another nod to Mr. Atkins' influence. It was rereleased with additional tracks, as Happy Hour, in 2006.

It was Atkins who came up with the post-nominal CGP designation - for - Certified Guitar Player - that Emmanuel proudly uses. Atkins felt that if universities give out degrees for four years of work the people who make extraordinary contributions over a lifetime of work deserve a certification. And so he came up with something for guitarists, bestowing only four CGP designations "for excelling far beyond the normal line of playing."

Guitarist Jim Nichols, who with vocalist Morning Nichols have built a devoted international following, is another master of the acoustic guitar, sharing another of Atkins' honors with Emmanuel. In Atkins' autobiography, Me and My Guitars, he wrote, "As the torch is passed, our beloved instrument is in good hands with players like Jerry Reed, Tommy Emmanuel, Richard Smith, Jim Nichols, and Doyle Dykes."

Tickets, beginning at $25, are available online at www.muscocenter.org or by calling Musco Center at 844-626-8726 (844-OC-MUSCO).

Emmanuel began playing at age 4. Though primarily self-taught, he was quickly so proficient that by age 6 he and his guitar-playing older brother Phil had inspired his mother, a lap steel guitar player, and father to sell the home and launch a touring family band. His unerring sense of groove marked him as Australia's youngest rhythm guitarist as The Emmanuel Quartet crisscrossed the country. That same year he heard Atkins playing, for the first time, on the radio.

The family band ceased with the death of his father in 1966, when Emmanuel was just 11. He settled in Sydney for his teen years, entering and winning numerous talent contests that got him industry attention. His meeting with Atkins turned into a jam session that boosted his self-confidence.

By the late 1970s he scored session work and played lead guitar in The Southern Star Band, a prominent group that backed vocalist Doug Parkinson. In the 1980s, with the rock band Dragon, he again toured extensively, including a 1987 tour with Tina Turner. By the late '80s he was ready to go it alone, with instrumental guitar records he wanted to appeal beyond guitar fans to mainstream audiences.

The first album, in 1988, was his solo debut, Down Under. Over more tours and many more records he became a huge celebrity in his home country, culminating in an incendiary performance with his brother at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

Thanks to the enduring influence of Chet Atkins' - and Merle Travis' - finger style of guitar picking, Emmanual developed a style of solo guitar playing that encompasses the range of a whole band -drums, bass, rhythm and lead guitar and a vocal melody simultaneously. No loop pedals, no overdubs, just one man and ten fingers. While some artists take ten-piece bands on the road and still fill out the sound with backing tracks, Emmanuel can build a complete sonic world entirely on his own.

His two recent releases are Accomplice 1 in 2017, an album of duets with some of today's most respected performers. The lineup, from across the musical spectrum, includes Jason Isbell, Mark Knopfler, Rodney Crowell, Jerry Douglas, Amanda Shires, Ricky Skaggs, J.D. Simo, David Grisman, Bryan Sutton, Suzy Bogguss and many more. Last year he released Heart Songs, a collaborative effort with another recipient of Atkins' CGP honors, John Knowles. (Atkins' daughter awarded a fifth to Atkins's longtime bandleader and co-guitarist following her father's pass in 2001.)
Special guests: Jim and Morning Nichols

Jim Nichols has appeared on countless concert stages and television shows, from Carnegie Hall to "The Tonight Show," and played and recorded with musicians and singers including Van Morrison, Tom Waits, Kenny Rankin, Hubert Laws, Toots Thielemans, and others including Atkins. He was featured at the 1997 Django Reinhardt Festival.

Vocalist Morning Nichols has a sound Just Jazz Guitar magazine describes as "warm, sultry, and intense." A veteran of concerts, clubs, and festivals, in addition to performing with Atkins and Emmanuel, she has collaborated with Mark Murphy, Martin Taylor, the Les Brown Big Band, and for many years with the popular Full Faith & Credit Big Band. Just Jazz Guitar adds, "She can swing with the best of them."

Tickets to Tommy Emmanuel, with special guests Jim and Morning Nichols on Tuesday, December 10, 2019, beginning at $25, are available online at www.muscocenter.org or by calling Musco Center at 844-626-8726 (844-OC-MUSCO). To enhance your Musco Center experience, Chapman University has implemented a new no-charge parking system! Detailed information is included when choosing print-at-home tickets.

For more information about Musco Center and its upcoming events, and to purchase tickets to all upcoming events, visit www.muscocenter.org.