Tommy Emmanuel

Tommy Emmanuel - Only - 2000 - EMI (Australia)

A certain Mr. Chet Atkins stated that Tommy Emmanuel stands as, “one of the greatest guitarists on the planet”. His performing and recording credits include work with Sir George Martin, John Fogerty, Stevie Wonder, Eric Clapton, Chet Atkins, Albert Lee, and Larry Carlton. His collection of accolades and awards includes a 1997 ‘Grammy’ nomination, a 1999 ‘CGP’ (Certified Guitar Player), a 1997 ‘Nammy’ (Nashville Music Award), two ‘MO’ Awards for ‘Performer of the Year’ (1995 and 1997), as well as two ‘Australian Ambassador of Music’ awards and five for ‘Australian Guitarist of the Year’. Tne Australian,Tommy Emmanuel is a gifted guitarist, and if you are into acoustic instrumental guitar, then this album is for you. Tommy's astonishing guitar wizadry will amaze you. He composed all the tracks and plays here unaccompanied. Like Jan Akkerman, Tommy Emmanuel can play the seemingly impossible. A brilliant album. Buy his "Endless Road" album.

TRACKS

"Those Who Wait” – 4:19
"I've Always Thought Of You" – 3:40
"Mombasa" – 3:01
"Timberlake Road" – 3:04
"Questions" – 4:09
"Padre" – 4:48
"Luttrell" – 2:25
"Since We Met" – 3:23
"Drivetime" – 3:43
"Robin" – 3:26
"Train To Dusseldorf" – 2:31
"Biskie" – 1:31
"Stay Close To Me" – 2:33
"Ol' Brother Hubbard" – 2:57

All tracks composed by Tommy Emmanuel

REVIEWS

When I first heard Tommy Emmanuel’s Snagglepuss-like snicker signaling the end of his solo guitar CD "Only", I lamented "Is that all?". Not because there were too few offerings (there are 14 tracks), not because the CD was especially short, but because I’ve never thoroughly enjoyed a recording so much and selfishly wanted the music to keep on playing. Only a few times in a lifetime does an artist come along who can do such magical things with six wires stretched over a wooden box that you’d swear he or she has a direct conduit to some karmic pool of creativity where access is given to only a special few... Emmanuel is such an artist. Though his instrument is the same earthbound tool all guitarists use, Emmanuel’s compositions and fretwork swoop and soar to never-before seen musical vistas like a graceful bird in flight: just listen to "Drivetime" to really grasp that metaphor. A Chet Atkins influence can be heard in the upbeat and complex fingerpicking on "Mombasa", "Timberlake Road", "Luttrell" and "Train to Dusseldorf". "Padré" is a solemn hymn crafted with rippling arpeggios that sound more like a hammered dulcimer or harp. Emmanuel is good enough to realize he doesn’t need to dazzle, and on "Questions" and "Since We Met" concentrates on merely coaxing hauntingly beautiful melodies from his guitar. The latter tune has the kind of chord resolutions and phrasing one might expect from a James Taylor song, and Emmanuel pays homage to J.T. for inspiration in his credits though it's "unfashionable" for such an accomplished technician to cite a popular singer/songwriter. Chet Atkins has called Tommy Emmanuel "the best guitarist on the planet". Chet knows guitar. © www.minor7th.com

The Australian guitar legend's early-'90s albums on EMI and Sony were worldwide hits, but his first real splash onto the American smooth jazz charts was 1997's Midnight Drive on Higher Octave (released internationally as Can't Get Enough). It was one of the year's more popular discs, but rather than follow up with something similar, he continued on with the musically eclectic journey that has always marked his career, doing a Grammy-nominated fingerpicking album with mentor Chet Atkins. While those who only know him through his one smooth hit may be disappointed with the austere simplicity of this first-ever solo guitar project, fans of good picking and straight-from-the-heart sentiment will rejoice. His acoustic style is so rustic that listeners even "hear the wood," so to speak, almost as harmony accents to his melodies. The untrained ear might think there's too much sameness from track to track, but closer listens reveal some interesting mood swings — from the dark and hauntingly romantic "Those Who Wait" and "Questions" to more upbeat, folky ramblers like "Timberlake Road" and the truly locomotive "Train to Dusseldorf." © Jonathan Widran, allmusic.com

Tommy Emmanuel is a veteran acoustic guitar player from Australia, where he's reputed to be a legend. He's written pop songs for Olivia Newton-John, Al Jarreau, and Sheena Easton and released skillfully played, if generic, smooth jazz albums. But it's as a solo acoustic finger-style player that Emmanuel makes jaws drop, and that's all you hear on this brilliant album. Emmanuel is an eclectic guitarist whose playing is infused with old-timey jazz on "Timberlake Road," New Age melodicism on "Those Who Wait," and a Celtic-classical tinge on "Padre." Emmanuel is capable of a dizzying array of harmonic effects, off-hand ornamentation, hammer-ons and pull-offs, and just about anything else you can do on an acoustic guitar. But while it's the technique that amazes, it's the songs that keep drawing you back with their intricate melodic invention. Perhaps because he's an unrepentant punster, Emmanuel is able to create just enough distance, with a cocked sideways glance, to keep his music on the right side of the line between sentimental and sublime. © John Diliberto, amazon.com

SHORT BIO

Tommy Emmanuel, four-time winner of Australia's Best Guitarist award, has helped bring the art of rock guitar down under to a higher awareness over his two-decade-long career by bringing a sense of jazz improvisation into a mix that also includes blues, country, rock, classical, and Spanish music. After years as a popular sideman and ace songwriter, the two-time ARIA (Aussie Grammys equivalent) award winner launched his solo career in 1988 with Up from Down Under. Several releases have followed, most notably his critically acclaimed 1993 release The Journey, which hit high on Gavin and Radio & Records NAC airplay charts. He has shown a mastery and affinity for both electric and acoustic axes and has been singled out by the likes of notable musicians such as Chet Atkins, with whom he recorded The Day Finger Pickers Took Over the World in 1997, and Todd Rundgren as being an innovator on the instrument. Only appeared in 2001, followed by 2002's Endless Road (it was finally released in the U.S. three years later), 2005's Live One, and 2006's Happy Hour (with Jim Nichols) and Mystery. © Jonathan Widran, allmusic.com