It often seems as if guitarist Tommy Emmanuel has more fingers than the average person, such is the blur of notes he can coax from the standard six strings.
It’s a gift widely recognised and a career that has taken Emmanuel around the world. But it all began very humbly in rural Australia and it might be that the story’s early origins help explain that extraordinary ability.
"I was the youngest in my family band, with my eldest brother on drums and my closest brother Phil the main lead guitarist," Emmanuel recalls. "I was the accompanist, the guy who moved around the stage and interacted with the audience. We played music that we heard on the local radio station, music that was popular back in the day. We ended up winning an appearance on a TV show, back when TV had just started. So we went on this show and played live. The audience loved it. There happened to be an American TV producer visiting the TV station that day. He saw us and came up to my dad and said ‘these kids are really good ... you better get them on the road’.
"Next thing we sold the house, got a couple of cars ... and took the show on the road."
Welfare authorities were soon trying to get the Emmanuel children off the road and into a more settled home environment. Eventually, they won. But it was by no means the end of the story.
"After my dad passed away we settled in the New South Wales town of Parkes and went to school there," Emmanuel says. "My brother and I formed another band. That was the period when we were buying a lot of records and learning lots of new stuff. In fact, there was a New Zealand guitarist called Peter Posa and we used to buy his records and play all of his tunes.
"Musically I was listening to everything ... from Bing Crosby to Nat King Cole, Jim Reeves, Hank Williams, Jimmy Rodgers. We were listening to country music, blues music. I still draw from that stuff."
About that time that the music that was to have among the biggest influences on Emmanuel’s playing caught his ear.
"When I heard Chet Atkins I was about 7 or 8. I heard him on the radio and when I heard what he was doing I said to my dad, ‘whatever that is , that’s what I want to do. I just want to play like that.’ Anyway, my dad said ‘it’s a recording trick. You can’t do all of that at once’.
But I could hear that he was playing everything at once. So it drove me crazy. I worked out how to do it after a fairly short time. I started to work out how to play Freight Train and the songs of the day that Chet had recorded. And then many years later, when I met Chet, he told me the same story. He was living with his father and stepmother in Georgia and he was about 10 years old and he heard Merle Travis on the radio and he said ‘that’s what I want to do’. The same story, just a different generation."
By this time, Emmanuel was beginning to think about the possibility of becoming a studio musician.
"So eventually it was time for me to move ... to the city so I could get a better education and to be around people who were a lot better than me.
"On my very first night in Sydney one of my good friends, Reg Lyndsay, came and picked me up. So, on comes this band, Crossfire, and I’m hearing music I’ve never heard before. It was fusion, kinda jazz and blues with a lot more free-form approach to it. The guitar player took a solo and ... I couldn’t believe that he had so much sustain. His sound was beautiful but his notes were hitting me in the stomach. He hit me like no-one had before. I walked outside and ... thought, ‘I know nothing’. What am I gonna do?
"I made my mind up that I had to get to work and learn and listen. It was really good for me because at that age you can be completely ego driven.
"I was 18 and I learned everything the hard way. I learned to listen, which was one of the best lessons, and I wasn’t afraid to ask for help.
"I played on a few things that got on TV, themes and shows. I ended up doing everything, especially in Australia."
It was also becoming clear to Emmanuel that he needed to spread his wings further.
"I moved to England in 1998 and started my life and my career all over again."
However, they hadn’t forgotten him at home.
"I came back to Australia for the Olympics and it was fabulous. The Closing Ceremony ... was so beautifully done.
"They asked me to come and do it. I said ‘I want to do it but I want to play with my brother’.
"I sent them Back on Terra Firma, a great song that Phil and I had recorded. They loved it but they said it was too long.
‘You have to make it three minutes and 46 seconds’. So, I got the backing track and I edited it and then Phil and I played it live."
More recently, Emmanuel has been based in the US.
"Acoustic guitar is my main instrument now. I’m a US citizen and I’ve lived in Nashville for 20 years. I am always on the road. I play around 250 shows a year."
The gig
- Tommy Emmanuel plays the Regent Theatre, Dunedin, April 7.
