Tommy Emmanuel: Finding Common Ground On Guitar

Tommy Emmanuel began his musical career at age 6, playing guitar in his family's band as they busked around the Australian bush more than six decades ago. An invitation from guitar legend Chet Atkins to visit Nashville led to Emmanuel's relocating to the United States in 1997, where his genre-defying career has only further exploded.

Emmanuel is on tour in support of Living in the Light (CGP Sounds, 2025). As at home in pop and country as he is in jazz or bluegrass, Emmanuel is one of only five people designated a "Certified Guitar Player" by Atkins.

While not strictly a jazz player, Emmanuel is known for his in-the-moment improvisation as well as outstanding finger-picking technique. He's also famous for once getting chewed out by Les Paul for not trying hard enough during a gig with Paul at The Iridium—then getting teased for trying to show up an old man.

During an interview from his Nashville home in support of his tour, Emmanuel was asked if there's a process involved in finding common musical ground when he's going to play with another guitarist he's not played with before.

"Normally, yes. If it's someone I don't know, I'm all ears. I'm listening like crazy—how they're interpreting the groove, how they're interpreting the melody, how much frequency they're putting out, and what I need to get rid of in my frequency to make them sound good."

But he also admitted that all that preparation doesn't always come into play once a gig starts—particularly if the other musician is someone he feels can thrive in the face of spontaneity.

"I can play with other players who have a lot of experience and I know I can trust to throw them a curveball. A player like Sierra Hull—I remember the first time I had her on my show, she and her band were opening and we had rehearsed a couple songs before the show for when I bring her out in my set. And when I introduced her out, I went into 'High Heel Sneakers,' and I did three songs with her—and they were not the ones we rehearsed! And she just killed it!

"And you can do that with somebody that good."

Emmanuel, who recorded with Atkins in addition to gigging with Paul, is well known for bringing on guest guitarists at many if not most of his shows. When asked if there are any notable players he's not yet had a chance to play with, he gave that some thought for a moment or two, then said, "There are so many good ones out there. I've been lucky lately, especially in the last 20 years of my life, to get to play with Robben Ford, George Benson, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Brian Sutton, Ricky Skaggs, Vince Gill—just so many.

"And there are guys I would have loved to have played with, like Don Rich, it's a shame he died when he did. We've still got Albert Lee and James Burton!"

Having been touring professionally for some 65 years, Emmanuel was asked if his experience jibes with that of harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite who has noted that over the last decade most of his shows have ended in time for him to be in bed at the hotel before he would have even gone on stage in the '70s and '80s.

"Exactly!" Emmanuel said, although adding that varies by region. "When you play in Italy and Spain, you're not on until a quarter to 10 at night, or 10 o'clock. Everywhere else, my show is pretty early: 8 o'clock, 7:30, sometimes 7 o'clock."

And while blues singer and pianist Marcia Ball has observed that the headliner no longer is automatically the last act on the bill, allowing the headlining act to sign merchandise in the back of the venue while the last band plays, Emmanuel said his late-in-life success has him playing such large venues to such large crowds, that meeting with fans has in many cases become impractical.

"I haven't done it a lot in the last 10 years, because I'm playing much bigger crowds. Most of my career, I came out after every show and signed autographs and took photos. I develop a relationship with people everywhere I go. I always tell young players that if you build a relationship with your audience you'll always have a good audience. We're trying to spread some love, some peace, some joy, make people forget their troubles. Our job is to lift that off them, even if's only for an hour. I think it's very important that those of us who are physically able to do try to lift someone up who's having hard times."

As larger crowds have led to larger checks, Emmanuel said he puts the money back into the quality of the show he presents to his fans.

"I think things have changed for me since I've drawn bigger crowds. I've stepped up in every way I know to make my show constantly better and changing. I've got a great sound team, a lighting team. I don't know another solo guitarist who carries his own sound guy, his own lighting team, his own merchandise guy. That's what I love having and what I love presenting to my audience—the best sound, the best lighting, the best show I can give them."

Maybe more than any other instrumental family, guitarists are famed for their often out-of-control instrument collections.

When asked how many guitars he owns, Emmanuel laughed and said, "I'm sitting in a room in my house—let's count them! One ... two ... three ... (grows quiet for a moment) ... There are 18 just in this room! There are about six in my bedroom. I've probably got about 50. The problem is the more I give away the more that come my way."

When asked where the guitars come from, he said, "People who build guitars want you to have one of theirs. The thing about guitars is that the ones that sound great, the science is right. There's enough pressure down on the saddle to cause the body to vibrate in such a way that it makes the strings make a great noise. It's all science.

"That's why Martin guitars will always be a leader because they got the science right 200 years ago."

Emmanuel was asked if he has a favorite (he currently owns the guitar Arthur Smith played on his 1945 hit, "Guitar Boogie") among those 50.

"I have a guitar that Chet Atkins bought for me from George Gruhn's shop here in town. It's an old Martin from the '60s—and I got him and Jerry Reed to sign it, and those are the only signatures I wanted on it!"

Country start Marty Stuart also has a collection of notable guitars, including instruments that belonged to Roebuck "Pops" Staples and rockabilly pioneer Carl Perkins. But Emmanuel said his friendship with Stuart is based more on musical compatibility than on their shared love of vintage guitars.

"Marty and I have a lot in common in that we started playing music so young, in our family with our brothers and sisters, and then were on the road at such a young age.

"One of my fondest memories with Marty was we're standing on the stage at the Opry, and I go into "Mind Your Own Business," and he joins me and then we both go into the original solo—exactly note for note, and he looked me and said, 'You're the only other guy who knows that solo!' The song was written by Hank Williams, and he played that original solo."

But proving there's more to his life than just guitar—sort of—Emmanuel said that when he toured Cuba some years ago, he brought home an instrument other than a guitar. Sort of.

"I went to Cuba and they gave me a tres, which is a six-string in groups of two, with slightly different tuning. I had a great time playing with a guy there in Cuba. He played a lot of my songs, and his bands played them as kind of cha cha cha music."  

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