|
|
 |
Tommy Emmanuel.
After gaining a long list of impressive credits to his name in Australia, Tommy Emmanuel set his sights on conquering the rest of the world over the last few years. Now he’s back with a new album ready for release, and an extensive tour of Australia next month with his brother Phil.
The tour will be a special one, celebrating the Emmanuel brothers’ forty-five years of playing guitar together from back when they were little boys in an ad hoc family band, playing to regional Aboriginal communities across Australia. For Tommy, this tour represents something quite special. I could feel his excitement about the impending tour all the way from Germany, from where he was calling: "I can’t wait," he began. "This tour has been talked about for some time, but there was always something else to do before we could commit to it. Both Phil and I have busy lives with work overseas and around the country, so making a time to actually tour together was quite hard. But we got there!"
Tommy and Phil really haven’t played that much together since the mid 'nineties, when they released a successful duet album and went on the road to promote it. Since then, both have been doing their own things. Tommy released a couple more albums and headed overseas, while Phil kept a lower profile, preferring to play smaller gigs around the country areas.
"It’s just great to be out playing again," Tommy enthuses, "and particularly special to be playing together after all these years."
A couple of years ago Tommy had the rare honour of working with music legend Chet Atkins. "Chet was just awesome. I remember when we were growing up as kids, we’d get the latest Chet Atkins album and then sit down and try and play what was on the record. It was almost impossible. We did our best, but those records were just so good, so special, that it was very difficult."
I suggest that maybe young guitarists of today struggle similarly with his own records, trying to play what almost seems from another planet. "That’s a very kind thing to say," he chuckles. "I think when I started off playing the guitar, I wanted to try and make things as simple as possible."
Tommy’s new album will mostly feature new compositions by Tommy, along with a couple of cover versions. "This new album has a different sort of feel to it than maybe some of my previous efforts," he explains. "The band I used for this record is just brilliant, and that makes things obviously different to begin with. This album also features some really outstanding recordings, meaning the way the guitar was recorded is brilliant, and probably the best I ever heard my playing sound. The dynamics and the sound quality are really tight, and you can listen to the record and it will be like you are basically sitting right next to me while I’m playing. I wanted that in my recordings for ages, and with the new album, we have it."
Knowing that Tommy and Phil and had both been part of the Australian music scene for many years, I wondered if when they played a new gig, somewhere rather obscure, they had to re-introduce themselves to the publi c. "Sometimes. I think there are a group of fans that you grow up with - but then, every gig you do you are meeting new people and you really need to turn them onto the music during an evening. You really can’t take much for granted in this business, so you’d always expect that there would be new fans interested in you, but at the same time not knowing that much about your past music."
Tommy and Phil Emmanuel are two super smooth guitarists and something special happens when they play together – even if it takes about forty-five years to perfect!
Chris Niehus
 |
The Emmanuel Brothers play at Her Majesty’s Theatre on Fri 30 Jan.
|
|
|
The latest issue
available now!
|
