Legendary Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel will celebrate his 70th birthday this year by doing what he loves best – playing to Australian audiences.
Emmanuel, 69, is based in Nashville nowadays but loves coming home. The legendary Grammy and ARIA-winning icon of the acoustic guitar is returning for a capital city headline tour in May.
He will perform at the Sydney Opera House, Newcastle’s CIVIC Theatre, Brisbane’s QPAC, the Canberra Theatre Centre, Melbourne’s Hamer Hall and Perth’s Riverside Theatre, wrapping up at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Adelaide on his 70th birthday.
“Playing and touring back home is like a family reunion,” Emmanuel says. “Australia is where I was raised, the rest of the world was what I had my sights on. Now I love coming home and seeing my country through the eyes of a grateful man.”
And as for celebrating his 70th in front of an Adelaide audience, well, he says 70 is just a number.
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“Turning 70 is not something I’ve thought about but I’m going to kick some arse this year,” he says. “I’m going all-out, no prisoners.”
He’s known for his mastery of the acoustic guitar and was dubbed a “Certified Guitar Player” by the great American musician Chet Atkins, known as Mister Guitar. Atkins was a mentor and in 1997 Emmanuel and Atkins recorded as a duo, releasing the album The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World. Atkins died in 2001 but Emmanuel says he’s still a presence when he goes on stage.
“I can hear his voice saying ‘tune up son, it bothers me’,” Emmanuel tells InReview between shows in the US. “I feel Chet would like where I’m at in my life and he’d be amazed that I got this far without a hit record.”
As well as celebrating his 70th birthday on tour Down Under, the acclaimed musician will be promoting his new album Live at the Sydney Opera House, set for release on March 21 via CGP Sounds.
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Recorded over two sold-out performances in the Opera House’s iconic concert hall in 2023, the album is the culmination of decades of devotion to music, musicianship and connection with his audience. The setlist showcases the most-loved songs of Emmanuel’s career – classic compositions such as Tall Fiddler, Mombasa and Country Wide, recent fan favourites such as Fuel and Sail On, along with his now iconic arrangement of Classical Gas and his thrilling Beatles Medley.
The live album will give audiences a taste of what to expect in May and all shows will feature Emmanuel performing two dazzling sets bringing the power and dynamism of a full band to his solo acoustic playing.
Emmanuel has a Grammy Award, multiple ARIA Awards and countless accolades, but nothing means more to him than those three letters Chet Atkins designated at the end of Emmanuel’s name: C.G.P.
That title of “Certified Guitar Player” was the highest honour Atkins could bestow on another player – a signifier that the recipient had not only mastered the instrument but taken it to new vistas and become a guiding light for the next generation of pickers.
As a songwriter and a performer, Tommy Emmanuel is a melting pot of influences across genres, from pop to bluegrass and jazz to rock’n’roll. The guitar is his life and learning never ends.
“I have just finished a guitar retreat with George Benson, Al Di Meola, Steve Lukather, John Scofield, Lee Ritenour, Andy Timmons and Stanley Jordan,” he says. “Not a bad bunch to hang, teach and perform with. It’s a great joy to be still working, creating, travelling and trying to make people happy, forget their troubles for a while, let their guards down a little.
“I still have that youthful outlook and I still push myself and look for ways of improving what I do. US audiences are really great and I like the fact that I’m still being discovered every night by new folks. Back home I have a sense of love and acceptance when I go on stage. I feel connected in every way to my home crowd.”
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