Tommy Emmanuel’s Tenth Dynamite Guitars Gig

Guitarist Tommy Emmanuel (from the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts event page)

Last night in Herbst Theatre, acoustic guitar virtuoso Tommy Emmanuel made his tenth visit to the Dynamite Guitars concert series offered by the Omni Foundation for the Performing Arts. The intermission divided the program into two sets, the second of which featured Emmanuel’s solo work. During the first set he was joined by fellow guitarist John Knowles. Both Knowles and Emmanuel have received the Chet Atkins Honorary CGP (Certified Guitar Player) award; and both are known for escalating fingerstyle technique to virtuoso levels.

Between the two of them is a diverse command of repertoire that includes jazz, blues, bluegrass, folk, and rock. Because Emmanuel does not read or write music, classical is not part of his repertoire; but his ear is impeccable. He can pick up a tune from just about any source and use it as a departure for weaving the elaborate textures of his own fingerstyle technique. He also has clearly internalized all the fundamentals of harmonic progression; but that does not prevent him from unfolding a tune with the most outlandish of transpositions, often leading one to wonder whether he attaches much significance to tonality or the need for a home key.

Of the two of them, Knowles is the one that has made at least one venture into composition, having written “Gorilla Song” for and with his son Jay. Emmanuel, on other other hand, commands a prodigious improvisatory streak. One gets the impression that he has picked up all of his tunes from other sources. However, he began his solo set with what amounted to a medley of who-knows-how-many of those tunes all delivered at a breakneck pace. Those who remember the humorist James Thurber may recall his line about a cowboy mounting his horse and riding off wildly in all directions. There is no better way to capture the energy behind an Emmanuel medley selection.

That energy is matched only by his generosity in presenting his repertoire. Not only was it diverse, but also it was abundant. That intermission was relatively brief, meaning that, taken together, those two sets served up almost two and a half hours of music. All of it was delivered with unflagging energy and a prodigious capacity for inventiveness, all of which was clearly worked out by ear, rather than by sitting in front of a blank score page with a pencil.

Emmanuel may be a regular visitor, but last night was my first opportunity to listen to him at work. It did not take me long to appreciate why he is so popular with Omni audiences. (Last night’s was about as close to a full house as I had seen in Herbst.) He is going strong enough that it would not be unreasonable to look forward to the next ten visits he will make here.